The hard x-ray imager onboard IXO

Kazuhiro Nakazawa; Tadayuki Takahashi; Olivier Limousin; Motohide Kokubun; Shin Watanabe; Philippe Laurent; Monique Arnaud; Hiroyasu Tajima

doi:10.1117/12.856368

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29 July 2010 The hard x-ray imager onboard IXO

Kazuhiro Nakazawa, Tadayuki Takahashi, Olivier Limousin, Motohide Kokubun, Shin Watanabe, Philippe Laurent, Monique Arnaud, Hiroyasu Tajima

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Proceedings Volume 7732, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 77321L (2010) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856368
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2010, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

The Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) is one of the instruments onboard International X-ray Observatory (IXO), to be launched into orbit in 2020s. It covers the energy band of 10-40 keV, providing imaging-spectroscopy with a field of view of 8 x 8 arcmin². The HXI is attached beneath the Wide Field Imager (WFI) covering 0.1-15 keV. Combined with the super-mirror coating on the mirror assembly, this configuration provides observation of X-ray source in wide energy band (0.1-40.0 keV) simultaneously, which is especially important for varying sources. The HXI sensor part consists of the semiconductor imaging spectrometer, using Si in the medium energy detector and CdTe in the high energy detector as its material, and an active shield covering its back to reduce background in orbit. The HXI technology is based on those of the Japanese-lead new generation X-ray observatory ASTRO-H, and partly from those developed for Simbol-X. Therefore, the technological development is in good progress. In the IXO mission, HXI will provide a major assets to identify the nature of the object by penetrating into thick absorbing materials and determined the inherent spectral shape in the energy band well above the structure around Fe-K lines and edges.

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Kazuhiro Nakazawa, Tadayuki Takahashi, Olivier Limousin, Motohide Kokubun, Shin Watanabe, Philippe Laurent, Monique Arnaud, and Hiroyasu Tajima "The hard x-ray imager onboard IXO", Proc. SPIE 7732, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2010: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 77321L (29 July 2010); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.856368

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