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arXiv · 1109.6668

Design and tests of the hard X-ray polarimeter X-Calibur

M. Beilicke·M. G. Baring·S. Barthelmy·W. R. Binns·J. Buckley·R. Cowsik·P. Dowkontt·A. Garson·Q. Guo·Y. Haba·M. H. Israel·H. Kunieda·K. Lee·H. Matsumoto·T. Miyazawa·T. Okajima·J. Schnittman·K. Tamura·J. Tueller·H. Krawczynski
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Abstract

X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such as binary black hole systems, micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built and tested a hard X-ray polarimeter X-Calibur to be used in the focal plane of the InFOCuS grazing incidence hard X-ray telescope. X-Calibur combines a low-Z Compton scatterer with a CZT detector assembly to measure the polarization of 10-80 keV X-rays making use of the fact that polarized photons Compton scatter preferentially perpendicular to the electric field orientation. X-Calibur achieves a high detection efficiency of order unity.

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M. Beilicke, M. G. Baring, S. Barthelmy, W. R. Binns, J. Buckley, R. Cowsik, P. Dowkontt, A. Garson, Q. Guo, Y. Haba, M. H. Israel, H. Kunieda, K. Lee, H. Matsumoto, T. Miyazawa, T. Okajima, J. Schnittman, K. Tamura, J. Tueller, H. Krawczynski. 2011-09-29. Design and tests of the hard X-ray polarimeter X-Calibur. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.893713

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