From Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2018
The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) will expand the information space for study of cosmic sources, by adding polarization to the properties (time, energy, and position) observed in x-ray astronomy. Selected in 2017 January as a NASA Astrophysics Small Explorer (SMEX) mission, IXPE will be launched into an equatorial orbit in 2021. The IXPE observatory includes three identical x-ray telescopes, each comprising a 4-m-focal-length (grazing-incidence) mirror module assembly (MMA) and a polarization-sensitive (imaging) detector unit (DU). The optical bench separating the MMAs from the DUs is a deployable boom with a tip/tilt/rotation stage for DU-to-MMA (gang) alignment, similar to the configuration used for the NuSTAR observatory. The IXPE mission will provide scientifically meaningful measurements of the x-ray polarization of a few dozen sources in the 2-8 keV band, over the first two years of the mission. For several bright, extended x-ray sources (pulsar wind nebulae, supernova remnants, and an active-galaxy jet), IXPE observations will produce polarization maps indicating the magnetic structure of the synchrotron emitting regions. For many bright pulsating x-ray sources (isolated pulsars, accreting x-ray pulsars, and magnetars), IXPE observations will produce phase-resolved profiles of the polarization degree and position angle.
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Stephen L. O'Dell, Luca Baldini, Ronaldo Bellazzini, Enrico Costa, Ronald F. Elsner, Victoria M. Kaspi, Jeffery J. Kolodziejczak, Luca Latronico, Herman L. Marshall, Giorgio Matt, Fabio Mulieri, Brian D. Ramsey, Roger W. Romani, Paolo Soffitta, Allyn F. Tennant, Martin C. Weisskopf, D. Zachary Allen, Fabrizio Amici, Spencer Antoniak, Primo Attina, Matteo Bachetti, Mattia Barbanera, Wayne H. Baumgartner, Jeff Bladt, Stephen D. Bongiorno, Fabio Borotto, Thomas Brooks, Scott Bussinger, H. Kyle Bygott, Elisabetta Cavazzuti, Marco Ceccanti, Saverio Citraro, William D. Deininger, Ettore Del Monte, Kurtis L. Dietz, Niccolò Di Lalla, Giuseppe Di Persio, Immacolata Donnarumma, Jennifer Erickson, Yuri Evangelista, Sergio Fabiani, Riccardo Ferrazzoli, Michele Foster, Manuela Giusti, Shuichi Gunji, Larry Guy, Sandra Johnson, William Kalinowski, Anthony R. Kelley, Kiranmayee Kilaru, Carlo Lefevre, Simone Maldera, Alberto Manfreda, Marco Marengo, James Masciarelli, Mike McEachen, Paolo Mereu, Massimo Minuti, Mark A. Mitchell, Scott Mitchell, Ikuyuki Mitsuishi, Alfredo Morbidini, Federico Mosti, Hikmat Nasimi, Barbara Negri, Leonardo Orsini, Darren Osborne, Steven D. Pavelitz, Christina Pentz, Matteo Perri, Melissa Pesce-Rollins, Colin Peterson, Raffaele Piazzolla, Stefano Pieraccini, Maura Pilia, Michele Pinchera, Simonetta Puccetti, Jaganathan Ranganathan, Tim Read, Alda Rubini, Francesco Santoli, Paolo Sarra, Sarah Schindhelm, Andrea Sciortino, Chris Seckar, Carmelo Sgrò, Brian T. Smith, Chet O. Speegle, Toru Tamagawa, Marcello Tardiola, Antonino Tobia, Alessia Tortosa, Alessio Trois, Bruce Weddendorf, Jeff Wedmore, and Davide Zanetti, "The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE): technical overview," Proc. SPIE 10699, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2018: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 106991X (Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation: June 14, 2018; Published: 20 August 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2314146.
