Dr. Tanja Eraerds Profile

Dr. Tanja Eraerds

at Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik

SPIE Involvement:

Author

Publications (12)

SPIE Journal Paper | 15 February 2022 Open Access

Mitigating the effects of particle background on the Athena Wide Field Imager

Eric Miller, Catherine Grant, Marshall Bautz, Silvano Molendi, Ralph Kraft, Paul Nulsen, Esra Bulbul, Steven Allen, David Burrows, Tanja Eraerds, Valentina Fioretti, Fabio Gastaldello, David Hall, Michael W. Hubbard, Jonathan Keelan, Norbert Meidinger, Emanuele Perinati, Arne Rau, Dan Wilkins

JATIS, Vol. 8, Issue 01, 018001, (February 2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.8.1.018001

KEYWORDS: Particles, Signal to noise ratio, Sensors, Camera shutters, Signal attenuation, Imaging systems, Signal detection, X-rays, Photons, X-ray imaging

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The Wide Field Imager (WFI) flying on Athena will usher in the next era of studying the hot and energetic Universe. Among Athena’s ambitious science programs are observations of faint, diffuse sources limited by statistical and systematic uncertainty in the background produced by high-energy cosmic ray particles. These particles produce easily identified “cosmic-ray tracks” along with less easily identified signals produced by secondary photons or x-rays generated by particle interactions with the instrument. Such secondaries produce identical signals to the x-rays focused by the optics and cannot be filtered without also eliminating these precious photons. As part of a larger effort to estimate the level of unrejected background and mitigate its effects, we here present results from a study of background-reduction techniques that exploit the spatial correlation between cosmic-ray particle tracks and secondary events. We use Geant4 simulations to generate a realistic particle background signal, sort this into simulated WFI frames, and process those frames in a similar way to the expected flight and ground software to produce a realistic WFI observation containing only particle background. The technique under study, self-anti-coincidence (SAC), then selectively filters regions of the detector around particle tracks, turning the WFI into its own anti-coincidence detector. We show that SAC is effective at improving the systematic uncertainty for observations of faint, diffuse sources, but at the cost of statistical uncertainty due to a reduction in signal. If sufficient pixel pulse-height information is telemetered to the ground for each frame, then this technique can be applied selectively based on the science goals, providing flexibility without affecting the data quality for other science. The results presented here are relevant for any future silicon-based pixelated x-ray imaging detector and could allow the WFI and similar instruments to probe to truly faint x-ray surface brightness.

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SPIE Journal Paper | 27 July 2021 Open Access

Enhanced simulations on the Athena/Wide Field Imager instrumental background

Tanja Eraerds, Valeria Antonelli, Chris Davis, David Hall, Oliver Hetherington, Andrew Holland, Michael Hubbard, Norbert Meidinger, Eric Miller, Silvano Molendi, Emanuele Perinati, Daniel Pietschner, Arne Rau

JATIS, Vol. 7, Issue 03, 034001, (July 2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.7.3.034001

KEYWORDS: Particles, Molybdenum, Sensors, Aluminum, Device simulation, Imaging systems, Electrons, Physics, Luminescence, Monte Carlo methods

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SPIE Journal Paper | 24 May 2021 Open Access

eROSITA camera array on the SRG satellite

Norbert Meidinger, Robert Andritschke, Konrad Dennerl, Valentin Emberger, Tanja Eraerds, Olaf Hälker, Gisela Hartner, Daniel Pietschner, Jonas Reiffers

JATIS, Vol. 7, Issue 02, 025004, (May 2021) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.10.1117/1.JATIS.7.2.025004

KEYWORDS: Cameras, Sensors, Optical filters, Charge-coupled devices, CCD image sensors, Satellites, Calibration, X-rays, Space operations, Filtering (signal processing)

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Poster + Paper

The eROSITA camera array on the SRG satellite

Norbert Meidinger, Robert Andritschke, Konrad Dennerl, Valentin Emberger, Tanja Eraerds, Olaf Haelker, Gisela Hartner, Daniel Pietschner, Jonas Reiffers

Proceedings Volume 11444, 114444O (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2560518

KEYWORDS: Cameras, Satellites, Mirrors, Space operations, X-ray telescopes, Telescopes, Staring arrays, Imaging systems, CCD cameras, Sensors

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Poster + Paper

Enhanced simulations on the Athena/WFI instrumental background

Tanja Eraerds, Valeria Antonelli, Chris Davis, David Hall, Oliver Hetherington, Andrew Holland, Jonathan Keelan, Norbert Meidinger, Eric Miller, Silvano Molendi, Emanuele Perinati, Daniel Pietschner, Arne Rau

Proceedings Volume 11444, 114443Y (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2560932

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Poster + Paper

Reducing the Athena WFI charged particle background: results from Geant4 simulations

Catherine Grant, Eric Miller, Marshall Bautz, Tanja Eraerds, Silvano Molendi, Jonathan Keelan, David Hall, Andrew Holland, Ralph Kraft, Esra Bulbul, Paul Nulsen, Steven Allen

Proceedings Volume 11444, 1144442 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2561124

KEYWORDS: Particles, X-rays, Imaging systems, X-ray imaging, Observatories, Galaxy groups and clusters, Detection and tracking algorithms, Silicon, X-ray detectors, Aerospace engineering

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Proceedings Article | 13 December 2020 Paper

SRG/eROSITA in-flight background at L2

Michael Freyberg, Emanuele Perinati, Florian Pacaud, Tanja Eraerds, Eugene Churazov, Konrad Dennerl, Peter Predehl, Andrea Merloni, Norbert Meidinger, Esra Bulbul, Susanne Friedrich, Marat Gilfanov, Chris Tenzer, Christian Pommranz, Dominique Eckert, Jürgen Schmitt, Marcella Brusa, Andrea Santangelo

Proceedings Volume 11444, 114441O (2020) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2562709

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Particles, Satellites, X-ray astronomy, X-ray telescopes, Astronomical telescopes, Galaxy groups and clusters, Space operations, Calibration, Electronics

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Proceedings Article | 6 July 2018 Presentation + Paper

Evaluation of the ATHENA/WFI instrumental background

Andreas von Kienlin, Tanja Eraerds, Esra Bulbul, Valentine Fioretti, Fabio Gastaldello, Catherine Grant, David Hall, Andrew Holland, Jonathan Keelan, Norbert Meidinger, Silvano Molendi, Emanuele Perinati, Arne Rau

Proceedings Volume 10699, 106991I (2018) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2311987

KEYWORDS: Particles, Sensors, Electrons, X-rays, Physics, Monte Carlo methods, Molybdenum, Aluminum, Optical filters, Cameras

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Proceedings Article | 18 July 2016 Paper

The wide field imager instrument for Athena

Norbert Meidinger, Josef Eder, Tanja Eraerds, Kirpal Nandra, Daniel Pietschner, Markus Plattner, Arne Rau, Rafael Strecker

Proceedings Volume 9905, 99052A (2016) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2231604

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Field effect transistors, Cameras, Head, Electronics, Thermal modeling, Connectors, Interfaces, Instrument modeling, Aluminum

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The WFI (Wide Field Imager) instrument is planned to be one of two complementary focal plane cameras on ESA’s next X-ray observatory Athena. It combines unprecedented survey power through its large field of view of 40 amin x 40 amin together with excellent count rate capability (≥ 1 Crab). The energy resolution of the silicon sensor is state-of-the-art in the energy band of interest from 0.2 keV to 15 keV, e.g. the full width at half maximum of a line at 7 keV will be ≤ 170 eV until the end of the nominal mission phase. This performance is accomplished by using DEPFET active pixel sensors with a pixel size of 130 μm x 130 μm well suited to the on-axis angular resolution of 5 arcsec half energy width (HEW) of the mirror system. Each DEPFET pixel is a combined sensor-amplifier structure with a MOSFET integrated onto a fully depleted 450 μm thick silicon bulk. Two detectors are planned for the WFI instrument: A large-area detector comprising four sensors with a total of 1024 x 1024 pixels and a fast detector optimized for high count rate observations. This high count rate capable detector permits for bright point sources with an intensity of 1 Crab a throughput of more than 80% and a pile-up of less than 1%. The fast readout of the DEPFET pixel matrices is facilitated by an ASIC development, called VERITAS-2. Together with the Switcher-A, a control ASIC that allows for operation of the DEPFET in rolling shutter mode, these elements form the key components of the WFI detectors. The detectors are surrounded by a graded-Z shield, which has in particular the purpose to avoid fluorescence lines that would contribute to the instrument background. Together with ultra-thin coating of the sensor and particle identification by the detector itself, the particle induced background shall be minimized in order to achieve the scientific requirement of a total instrumental background value smaller than 5 x 10^-3 cts/cm²/s/keV. Each detector has its dedicated detector electronics (DE) for supply and data acquisition. Due to the high frame rate in combination with the large pixel array, signal correction and event filtering have to be done on-board and in real-time as the raw data rate would by far exceed the feasible telemetry rate. The data streams are merged and compressed in the Instrument Control and Power distribution Unit (ICPU). The ICPU is the data, control and power interface of the WFI to the Athena spacecraft. The WFI instrument comprises in addition a filter wheel (FW) in front of the camera as well as an optical stray-light baffle. In the current phase A of the Athena project, the technology development is performed. At its end, breadboard models will be developed and tested to demonstrate a technical readiness level (TRL) of at least 5 for the various WFI subsystems before mission adoption in 2020.

Proceedings Article | 31 July 2014 Paper

eROSITA on SRG

Peter Predehl, Robert Andritschke, Werner Becker, Walter Bornemann, Heinrich Bräuninger, Hermann Brunner, Thomas Boller, Vadim Burwitz, Wolfgang Burkert, Nicolas Clerc, Evgeniy Churazov, Diogo Coutinho, Konrad Dennerl, Josef Eder, Valentin Emberger, Tanja Eraerds, Michael Freyberg, Peter Friedrich, Maria Fürmetz, Antonis Georgakakis, Christoph Grossberger, Frank Haberl, Olaf Hälker, Gisela Hartner, Günther Hasinger, Johannes Hoelzl, Heinrich Huber, Andreas von Kienlin, Walter Kink, Ingo Kreykenbohm, Georg Lamer, Ilya Lomakin, Igor Lapchov, Lorenzo Lovisari, Norbert Meidinger, Andrea Merloni, Benjamin Mican, Joseph Mohr, Siegfried Müller, Kirpal Nandra, Florian Pacaud, Mikhail Pavlinsky, Emanuele Perinati, Elmar Pfeffermann, Daniel Pietschner, Jonas Reiffers, Thomas Reiprich, Jan Robrade, Mara Salvato, Andrea Santangelo, Manami Sasaki, Hartmut Scheuerle, Christian Schmid, Jürgen Schmitt, Axel Schwope, Rashid Sunyaev, Christoph Tenzer, Lars Tiedemann, Weizong Xu, Valeri Yaroshenko, Sabine Walther, Michael Wille, Jörn Wilms, Yu-Ying Zhang

Proceedings Volume 9144, 91441T (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055426

KEYWORDS: X-rays, Mirrors, Cameras, Space telescopes, X-ray telescopes, Calibration, Electronics, Telescopes, X-ray astronomy, Imaging arrays

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Proceedings Article | 26 September 2013 Paper

Progress of the x-ray CCD camera development for the eROSITA telescope

Norbert Meidinger, Robert Andritschke, Florian Aschauer, Walter Bornemann, Valentin Emberger, Tanja Eraerds, Maria Fürmetz, Olaf Hälker, Gisela Hartner, Walter Kink, Siegfried Müller, Daniel Pietschner, Peter Predehl, Jonas Reiffers, Sabine Walther, Georg Weidenspointner

Proceedings Volume 8859, 88590B (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2022630

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Cameras, Electronics, Charge-coupled devices, CCD image sensors, Optical filters, CCD cameras, X-rays, Aluminum, Imaging systems

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Proceedings Article | 25 September 2012 Paper

Design and performance of the eROSITA focal plane instrumentation

Norbert Meidinger, Robert Andritschke, Florian Aschauer, Johannes Elbs, Tanja Eraerds, Stefanie Granato, Olaf Hälker, Gisela Hartner, Danilo Mießner, Daniel Pietschner, Peter Predehl, Jonas Reiffers, Lothar Strüder, Andreas von Kienlin, Sabine Walther

Proceedings Volume 8453, 84530P (2012) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.925367

KEYWORDS: Sensors, Cameras, Optical filters, Charge-coupled devices, Photons, X-rays, Signal processing, Electronics, Filtering (signal processing), X-ray telescopes

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Showing 5 of 12 publications

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