Coded mask telescope with a germanium array detector

Gerald K. Skinner; John R. H. Herring; R. L. Balthazor

doi:10.1117/12.158792

1 November 1993 Coded mask telescope with a germanium array detector

Gerald K. Skinner, John R. H. Herring, R. L. Balthazor

Proceedings Volume 1945, Space Astronomical Telescopes and Instruments II; (1993) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.158792
Event: Optical Engineering and Photonics in Aerospace Sensing, 1993, Orlando, FL, United States

Abstract

Coded mask X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes are the only way of obtaining true images in the photon energy range from approximately 10 keV to a few MeV. The detectors used must be position sensitive, and the types employed in gamma-ray coded mask telescopes up to now have had limited energy resolution. With a view to developing position sensitive detectors which have the energy resolution attainable with Germanium we have procured and characterized in the laboratory a detector comprising a small array of high purity Germanium elements each 15 X 15 X 50 mm. Although having only nine elements, its construction is such that is should later be possible to build larger modules in the same way and finally to assemble modules into a large detector plane array. The nine element array is being incorporated into a coded mask telescope which will be tested in a balloon flight. Laboratory tests on the array detector and comparisons with simulations are reported and the anticipated performance of the small array telescope considered. The feasibility of a large instrument based on this approach, which is under study for a space mission, and its expected capabilities are discussed.

Citation Download Citation

Gerald K. Skinner, John R. H. Herring, and R. L. Balthazor "Coded mask telescope with a germanium array detector", Proc. SPIE 1945, Space Astronomical Telescopes and Instruments II, (1 November 1993); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.158792

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