The MPE X-ray test facility PANTER: Calibration of hard X-ray (15–50 kev) optics

Freyberg, M. J.; Bräuninger, H.; Burkert, Wolfgang; Hartner, Gisela; Citterio, O.; Mazzoleni, Francesco; Pareschi, G.; Spiga, D.; Romaine, Suzanne; Gorenstein, P.; Ramsey, Brian D.

doi:10.1007/s10686-006-9068-8

Cited by 32 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Following the detailed calibration of the physical models, the instrument response is compared with end-to-end performance tests at the MPE Panter facility (Freyberg et al 2005;Bräuninger et al 2004) at specific energies and positions in the field of view. The major limitations of this approach are:…”

Section: Calibration Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibration and in-orbit performance of the reflection grating spectrometer onboardXMM-Newton

Vries

Herder

Gabriel

et al. 2015

A&A

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Context. XMM-Newton was launched on 10 December 1999 and has been operational since early 2000. One of the instruments onboard XMM-Newton is the reflection grating spectrometer (RGS). Two identical RGS instruments are available, with each RGS combining a reflection grating assembly and a camera with charge-coupled devices to record the spectra. Aims. We describe the calibration and in-orbit performance of the RGS instrument. By combining the preflight calibration with appropriate inflight calibration data including the changes in detector performance over time, we aim at profound knowledge about the accuracy in the calibration. This will be crucial for any correct scientific interpretation of spectral features for a wide variety of objects. Methods. Ground calibrations alone are not able to fully characterize the instrument. Dedicated inflight measurements and constant monitoring are essential for a full understanding of the instrument and the variations of the instrument response over time. Physical models of the instrument are tuned to agree with calibration measurements and are the basis from which the actual instrument response can be interpolated over the full parameter space. Results. Uncertainties in the instrument response have been reduced to <10% for the effective area and <6 mÅ for the wavelength scale (in the range from 8 Å to 34 Å). The remaining systematic uncertainty in the detection of weak absorption features has been estimated to be 1.5%. Conclusions. Based on a large set of inflight calibration data and comparison with other instruments onboard XMM-Newton, the calibration accuracy of the RGS instrument has been improved considerably over the preflight calibrations.

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Section: Calibration Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calibration and in-orbit performance of the reflection grating spectrometer onboardXMM-Newton

Vries

Herder

Gabriel

et al. 2015

A&A

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“…The PANTER X-ray test facility is described in Freyberg et al (2005) and Burwitz et al (2013). We installed the GPD in the test room (see Figure 2) and first searched for the best focus position after centering the X-ray spot on the detector active area.…”

Section: Configuration Of the Set-upmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Imaging Properties of the Gas Pixel Detector as a Focal Plane Polarimeter

Fabiani

Costa

Monte

et al. 2014

ApJS

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X-rays are particularly suited to probing the physics of extreme objects. However, despite the enormous improvements of X-ray astronomy in imaging, spectroscopy, and timing, polarimetry remains largely unexplored. We propose the photoelectric polarimeter Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) as a candidate instrument to fill the gap created by more than 30 yr without measurements. The GPD, in the focus of a telescope, will increase the sensitivity of orders of magnitude. Moreover, since it can measure the energy, the position, the arrival time, and the polarization angle of every single photon, it allows us to perform polarimetry of subsets of data singled out from the spectrum, the light curve, or an image of the source. The GPD has an intrinsic, very fine imaging capability, and in this work we report on the calibration campaign carried out in 2012 at the PANTER X-ray testing facility of the Max-PlanckInstitut für extraterrestrische Physik of Garching (Germany) in which, for the first time, we coupled it with a JET-X optics module with a focal length of 3.5 m and an angular resolution of 18 arcsec at 4.5 keV. This configuration was proposed in 2012 aboard the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE) in response to the ESA call for a small mission. We derived the imaging and polarimetric performance for extended sources like pulsar wind nebulae and supernova remnants as case studies for the XIPE configuration and also discuss possible improvements by coupling the detector with advanced optics that have a finer angular resolution and larger effective areas to study extended objects with more detail.

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“…Prototypes of NHXM mirror modules with a few mirror shells were manufactured [9] , aiming at demonstrating the feasibility of mirrors with such angular resolutions, e.g., adopting an electroformed Nickel-Cobalt alloy, stiffer than pure Nickel [11] , and reducing the thickness of the gold layer used for the mirror release to improve the roughness [12] . The direct performance verification was done by measuring the X-ray PSF (Point Spread Function) up to 50 keV in full-illumination setup at PANTER (MPE, Germany) [13] , a reference X-ray facility for calibration of X-ray telescopes like ROSAT, Beppo-SAX, JET-X, SOHO/CDS, ABRIXAS, Chandra LETG, XMM, SWIFT/XRT, Suzaku.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Angular resolution measurements at SPring-8 of a hard x-ray optic for the New Hard X-ray Mission

et al. 2011

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The realization of X-ray telescopes with imaging capabilities in the hard (> 10 keV) X-ray band requires the adoption of optics with shallow (< 0.25 deg) grazing angles to enhance the reflectivity of reflective coatings. On the other hand, to obtain large collecting area, large mirror diameters (< 350 mm) are necessary. This implies that mirrors with focal lengths ≥10 m shall be produced and tested. Full-illumination tests of such mirrors are usually performed with onground X-ray facilities, aimed at measuring their effective area and the angular resolution; however, they in general suffer from effects of the finite distance of the X-ray source, e.g. a loss of effective area for double reflection. These effects increase with the focal length of the mirror under test; hence a "partial" full-illumination measurement might not be fully representative of the in-flight performances. Indeed, a pencil beam test can be adopted to overcome this shortcoming, because a sector at a time is exposed to the X-ray flux, and the compensation of the beam divergence is achieved by tilting the optic. In this work we present the result of a hard X-ray test campaign performed at the BL20B2 beamline of the SPring-8 synchrotron radiation facility, aimed at characterizing the Point Spread Function (PSF) of a multilayer-coated Wolter-I mirror shell manufactured by Nickel electroforming. The mirror shell is a demonstrator for the NHXM hard X-ray imaging telescope (0.3 -80 keV), with a predicted HEW (Half Energy Width) close to 20 arcsec. We show some reconstructed PSFs at monochromatic X-ray energies of 15 to 63 keV, and compare them with the PSFs computed from post-campaign metrology data, self-consistently treating profile and roughness data by means of a method based on the Fresnel diffraction theory. The modeling matches the measured PSFs accurately.

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The MPE X-ray test facility PANTER: Calibration of hard X-ray (15–50 kev) optics

Cited by 32 publications

References 17 publications

Calibration and in-orbit performance of the reflection grating spectrometer onboardXMM-Newton

Calibration and in-orbit performance of the reflection grating spectrometer onboardXMM-Newton

The Imaging Properties of the Gas Pixel Detector as a Focal Plane Polarimeter

Angular resolution measurements at SPring-8 of a hard x-ray optic for the New Hard X-ray Mission

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