0000000000281883
AUTHOR
Pietro Ubertini
INTEGRAL high energy monitoring of the X-ray burster KS 1741-293
KS 1741-293, discovered in 1989 by the X-ray camera TTM in the Kvant module of the Mir space station and identified as an X-ray burster, has not been detected in the hard X band until the advent of the INTEGRAL observatory. Moreover this source has been recently object of scientific discussion, being also associated to a nearby extended radio source that in principle could be the supernova remnant produced by the accretion induced collapse in the binary system. Our long term monitoring with INTEGRAL, covering the period from February 2003 to May 2005, confirms that KS 1741-293 is transient in soft and hard X band. When the source is active, from a simultaneous JEM-X and IBIS data analysis, …
Progress in the Development of CdTe and CdZnTe Semiconductor Radiation Detectors for Astrophysical and Medical Applications
Over the last decade, cadmium telluride (CdTe) and cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) wide band gap semiconductors have attracted increasing interest as X-ray and gamma ray detectors. Among the traditional high performance spectrometers based on silicon (Si) and germanium (Ge), CdTe and CdZnTe detectors show high detection efficiency and good room temperature performance and are well suited for the development of compact and reliable detection systems. In this paper, we review the current status of research in the development of CdTe and CdZnTe detectors by a comprehensive survey on the material properties, the device characteristics, the different techniques for improving the overall detector…
The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit: a consolidated design for the system requirement review of the preliminary definition phase
The Athena X-ray Integral Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer, studied since 2015 for flying in the mid-30s on the Athena space X-ray Observatory, a versatile observatory designed to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, selected in November 2013 by the Survey Science Committee. Based on a large format array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), it aims to provide spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (up to 7 keV) over an hexagonal field of view of 5 arc minutes (equivalent diameter). The X-IFU entered its System Requirement Review (SRR) in June 2022, at about the same time when ESA called for an overall X-IFU redesign (i…
Development of a 3D CZT detector prototype for Laue Lens telescope
We report on the development of a 3D position sensitive prototype suitable as focal plane detector for Laue lens telescope. The basic sensitive unit is a drift strip detector based on a CZT crystal, (similar to 19x8 mm(2) area, 2.4 mm thick), irradiated transversally to the electric field direction. The anode side is segmented in 64 strips, that divide the crystal in 8 independent sensor (pixel), each composed by one collecting strip and 7 (one in common) adjacent drift strips. The drift strips are biased by a voltage divider, whereas the anode strips are held at ground. Furthermore, the cathode is divided in 4 horizontal strips for the reconstruction of the third interaction position coord…