Design and performance of Soft Gamma-ray Detector onboard the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) satellite

Journal Article · Thu Apr 26 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1117/1.jatis.4.2.021411· OSTI ID:1463907

Tajima, Hiroyasu ^[1]; Watanabe, Shin ^[2]; Fukazawa, Yasushi ^[3]; Blandford, Roger ^[4]; Enoto, Teruaki ^[5]; Goldwurm, Andrea ^[6]; Hagino, Kouichi ^[7]; Hayashi, Katsuhiro ^[8]; Ichinohe, Yuto ^[9]; Kataoka, Jun ^[10]; Katsuta, Jun’ichiro ^[3]; Kitaguchi, Takao ^[3]; Kokubun, Motohide ^[11]; Laurent, Philippe ^[12]; Lebrun, François ^[6]; Limousin, Olivier ^[6]; Madejski, Grzegorz M. ^[13]; Makishima, Kazuo ^[14]; Mizuno, Tsunefumi ^[15]; Mori, Kunishiro ^[2] ; Nakamori, Takeshi ^[16]; Nakano, Toshio ^[17]; Nakazawa, Kazuhiro ^[18]; Noda, Hirofumi ^[19]; Odaka, Hirokazu ^[13]; Ohno, Masanori ^[3]; Ohta, Masayuki ^[11]; Saito, Shinya ^[20]; Sato, Goro ^[11]; Sato, Rie ^[2]; Takeda, Shin’ichiro ^[21]; Takahashi, Hiromitsu ^[3]; Takahashi, Tadayuki ^[2]; Tanaka, Takaaki ^[22]; Tanaka, Yasuyuki ^[3]; Terada, Yukikatsu ^[23]; Uchiyama, Hideki ^[24]; Uchiyama, Yasunobu ^[20]; Yamaoka, Kazutaka ^[25]; Yatsu, Yoichi ^[26]; Yonetoku, Daisuke ^[27]; Yuasa, Takayuki ^[14]

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1. Nagoya Univ. (Japan). Inst. for Space-Earth Environmental Research
2. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara (Japan). Inst. of Space and Astronautical Science
3. Hiroshima Univ., Higashi-Hiroshima (Japan). School of Science
4. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology; Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
5. Kyoto Univ. (Japan). Dept. of Astronomy; Kyoto Univ. (Japan). Hakubi Center for Advanced Research
6. Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Saclay (France)
7. Tokyo Univ. of Science, Chiba (Japan). Faculty of Science and Technology, Dept. of Physics
8. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara (Japan). Inst. of Space and Astronautical Science; Nagoya Univ. (Japan). Dept. of Physics
9. Tokyo Metropolitan Univ., Tokyo (Japan). Dept. of Physics
10. Waseda Univ., Tokyo (Japan). Research Inst. for Science and Engineering
11. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Sagamihara (Japan). Inst. of Space and Astronautical Science
12. Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Saclay (France); Laboratoire APC, Paris (France)
13. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Kavli Inst. for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology
14. Inst. of Physical and Chemical Research, Wako (Japan)
15. Hiroshima Univ., Higashi-Hiroshima (Japan). School of Science; Hiroshima Univ., Higashi-Hiroshima (Japan). Hiroshima Astrophysical Science Center
16. Yamagata Univ., Yamagata (Japan)
17. Inst. of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), Wako (Japan). Nishina Center
18. Univ. of Tokyo (Japan). Dept. of Physics; Univ. of Tokyo (Japan). School of Science, Research Center for the Early Universe
19. Tohoku Univ., Sendai (Japan). Frontier Research Inst. for Interdisciplinary Sciences; Tohoku Univ., Sendai (Japan). Astronomical Inst.
20. Rikkyo Univ., Tokyo (Japan). Dept. of Physics
21. Okinawa Inst. of Science and Technology Graduate Univ., Onna-son (Japan)
22. Kyoto Univ. (Japan). Dept. of Physics
23. Saitama Univ., Saitama (Japan). Dept. of Physics
24. Shizuoka Univ., Shizuoka, (Japan). Faculty of Education
25. Nagoya Univ. (Japan). Inst. for Space-Earth Environmental Research; Nagoya Univ. (Japan). Dept. of Physics
26. Tokyo Inst. of Technology, Tokyo (Japan). Dept. of Physics
27. Kanazawa Univ., Kanazawa (Japan). Faculty of Mathematics and Physics

Hitomi (ASTRO-H) was the sixth Japanese x-ray satellite that carried instruments with exquisite energy resolution of <7 eV and broad energy coverage of 0.3 to 600 keV. The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) was the Hitomi instrument that observed the highest energy band (60 to 600 keV). The SGD design achieves a low background level by combining active shields and Compton cameras where Compton kinematics is utilized to reject backgrounds coming from outside of the field of view. A compact and highly efficient Compton camera is realized using a combination of silicon and cadmium telluride semiconductor sensors with a good energy resolution. Compton kinematics also carries information for gamma-ray polarization, making the SGD an excellent polarimeter. Following several years of development, the satellite was successfully launched on February 17, 2016. After proper functionality of the SGD components were verified, the nominal observation mode was initiated on March 24, 2016. The SGD observed the Crab Nebula for approximately two hours before the spacecraft ceased to function on March 26, 2016. We present concepts of the SGD design followed by detailed description of the instrument and its performance measured on ground and in orbit.

• Research Organization: SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-76SF00515; AC52-07NA27344; NNX15AM19G; 16J02333; 24105007; 24244014; 25287059; 26800160
• OSTI ID: 1463907
• Journal Information: Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems, Vol. 4, Issue 2; ISSN 2329-4124
• Publisher: SPIE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
gamma rays
x-rays
polarimeters
detectors
satellites
astronomy