Shin'ichiro Takeda

Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board Suzaku

The Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board Suzaku covers a wide energy range from 10 keV to 600 keV by combination of silicon PIN diodes and GSO scintillators. The HXD is designed to achieve an extremely low in-orbit back ground based on a combination of new techniques, including the concept of well-type active shield counter. With an effective area of 142 cm^2 at 20 keV and 273 cm2 at 150 keV, the background level at the sea level reached ~1x10^{-5} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 30 keV for the PI N diodes, and ~2x10^{-5} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 100 keV, and ~7x10^{-6} cts s^{-1} cm^{-2} keV^{-1} at 200 keV for the phoswich counter. Tight active shielding of the HXD results in a large array of guard counters surrounding the main detector parts. These anti-coincidence counters, made of ~4 cm thick BGO crystals, have a large effective area for sub-MeV to MeV gamma-rays. They work as an excellent gamma-ray burst monitor with limited angular resolution (~5 degree). The on-board signal-processing system and the data transmitted to the ground are also described.

In-orbit performance of the hard X-ray detector on board Suzaku

The in-orbit performance and calibration of the Hard X-ray Detector (HXD) on board the X-ray astronomy satellite Suzaku are described. Its basic performances, including a wide energy bandpass of 10–600keV, energy resolutions of ∼ 4keV (FWHM) at 40keV and ∼ 11% at 511keV, and a high background rejection efficiency, have been confirmed by extensive in-orbit calibrations. The long-term gains of PIN-Si diodes have been stable within 1% for half a year, and those of scintillators have decreased by 5–20%. The residual non-X-ray background of the HXD is the lowest among past non-imaging hard X-ray instruments in energy ranges of 15–70 and 150–500keV. We provide accurate calibrations of energy responses, angular responses, timing accuracy of the HXD, and relative normalizations to the X-ray CCD cameras using multiple observations of the Crab Nebula.

Development of the HXD-II wide-band all-sky monitor onboard Astro-E2

The hard X-ray detector (HXD-II) is one of the three scientific instruments onboard Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite Astro-E2 scheduled to be launched in 2005. This mission is very unique in a point of having a lower background than any other past missions in the 10-600 keV range. In the HXD-II, the large and thick BGO crystals are used as active shields for particle and gamma-ray background to the main detector. They have a wide field of view of ~2pi and a large effective area of 400 cm2 even at 1 MeV. Hence, the BGO shields have been developed as a wide-band all-sky monitor (WAM) with a broadband coverage of 50-5000 keV. In this paper, overall design and performance of the HXD-II/WAM based on the results of preflight calibration tests carried out in June 2004 are described. By irradiating various radio isotopes with the WAM flight model, we verified that it had comparable capabilities with other gamma-ray burst detectors

The Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton camera of the ASTRO-H Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD)

Abstract The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) is one of the instrument payloads onboard ASTRO-H, and will cover a wide energy band (60–600xa0keV) at a background level 10 times better than instruments currently in orbit. The SGD achieves low background by combining a Compton camera scheme with a narrow field-of-view active shield. The Compton camera in the SGD is realized as a hybrid semiconductor detector system which consists of silicon and cadmium telluride (CdTe) sensors. The design of the SGD Compton camera has been finalized and the final prototype, which has the same configuration as the flight model, has been fabricated for performance evaluation. The Compton camera has overall dimensions of 12xa0cm×12xa0cm×12xa0cm, consisting of 32 layers of Si pixel sensors and 8 layers of CdTe pixel sensors surrounded by 2 layers of CdTe pixel sensors. The detection efficiency of the Compton camera reaches about 15% and 3% for 100xa0keV and 511xa0keV gamma rays, respectively. The pixel pitch of the Si and CdTe sensors is 3.2xa0mm, and the signals from all 13,312 pixels are processed by 208 ASICs developed for the SGD. Good energy resolution is afforded by semiconductor sensors and low noise ASICs, and the obtained energy resolutions with the prototype Si and CdTe pixel sensors are 1.0–2.0xa0keV (FWHM) at 60xa0keV and 1.6–2.5xa0keV (FWHM) at 122xa0keV, respectively. This results in good background rejection capability due to better constraints on Compton kinematics. Compton camera energy resolutions achieved with the final prototype are 6.3xa0keV (FWHM) at 356xa0keV and 10.5xa0keV (FWHM) at 662xa0keV, which satisfy the instrument requirements for the SGD Compton camera (better than 2%). Moreover, a low intrinsic background has been confirmed by the background measurement with the final prototype.

New CdTe Pixel Gamma-Ray Detector with Pixelated Al Schottky Anodes

We developed a new Al Schottky CdTe pixel detector and measured its spectral performance. It has pixelated anodes made of aluminum and a common cathode made of platinum. Because of the low leakage current and the high bias voltage owing to the Schottky diode characteristic and the anode pixel configuration, a good spectral performance including a high energy resolution was achieved. When the pixel detector with a thickness of 0.75 mm was subjected to a bias voltage of 400 V and was operated at -20 °C, the full-width-half-maximum (FWHM) energy resolution of 1.1 and 1.8 keV at 59.5 and 122 keV, respectively, were successfully obtained. The spectral performance obtained with the Al Schottky CdTe pixel detector exceeded that obtained with the conventional In Schottky CdTe pixel detector, which has an In common anode and Pt pixelated cathodes, under the same operating conditions.

The Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) for the ASTRO-H mission

The 6th Japanese X-ray satellite, ASTRO-H, is scheduled for launch in 2015. The hard X-ray focusing imaging system will observe astronomical objects with the sensitivity for detecting point sources with a brightness of 1/100,000 times fainter than the Crab nebula at > 10 keV. The Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) is a focal plane detector 12 m below the hard X-ray telescope (HXT) covering the energy range from 5 to 80 keV. The HXI is composed of a stacked Si/CdTe semiconductor detector module and surrounding BGO scintillators. The latter work as active shields for efficient reduction of background events caused by cosmic-ray particles, cosmic X-ray background, and in-orbit radiation activation. In this paper, we describe the detector system, and present current status of flight model development, and performance of HXI using an engineering model of HXI.

A new Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton camera developed for high-angular resolution

A semiconductor Compton camera for a balloon borne experiment aiming at observation in high energy astrophysics is developed. The camera is based on the concept of the Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton Camera, which features high-energy and high-angular resolution in the energy range from several tens of keV to a few MeV. It consists of tightly packed double-sided silicon strip detectors (DSSDs) stacked in four layers, and a total of 32 CdTe pixel detectors surrounding them. The Compton reconstruction was successfully performed and gamma-ray images were obtained from 511 keV down to 59.5 keV. The Angular Resolution Measure (ARM) at 511 keV is ~ 2.5 degrees, thanks to the high energy resolution in both the DSSD and CdTe parts.

Soft gamma-ray detector (SGD) onboard the ASTRO-H mission

The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) is one of observational instruments onboard the ASTRO-H, and will provide 10 times better sensitivity in 60{600 keV than the past and current observatories. The SGD utilizes similar technologies to the Hard X-ray Imager (HXI) onboard the ASTRO-H. The SGD achieves low background by constraining gamma-ray events within a narrow field-of-view by Compton kinematics, in addition to the BGO active shield. In this paper, we will present the results of various tests using engineering models and also report the flight model production and evaluations.

Visualization of radioactive substances with a Si/CdTe Compton Camera

Dust containing radioactive materials dispersed following the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in March 2011. Gamma-rays are emitted in the process when unstable nuclei in the materials decay. Based on the technology of Si/CdTe Compton Camera, we have manufactured a quick prototype model for the use in the field. The camera, now called a Ultra-Wide-Angle Compton Camera was successfully applied to visualize the distribution of radio-active substances in the Fukushima area.

Imaging and spectral performance of CdTe double-sided strip detectors for the Hard X-ray Imager onboard ASTRO-H

The imaging and spectral performance of CdTe double-sided strip detectors (CdTe-DSDs) was evaluated for the ASTRO-H mission. The charcterized CdTe-DSDs have a strip pitch of 0.25 mm, an imaging area of 3.2 cm × 3.2 cm and a thickness of 0.75 mm. The detector was successfully operated at a temperature of -20°C and with an applied bias voltage of 250 V. By using two-strip events as well as one-strip events for the event reconstruction, a good energy resolution of 2.0 keV at 59.5 keV and a sub-strip spatial resolution was achieved. The hard X-ray and gamma-ray response of CdTe-DSDs is complex due to the properties of CdTe and the small pixel effect. Therefore, one of the issues to investigate is the response of the CdTe-DSD. In order to investigate the spatial dependence of the detector response, we performed fine beam scan experiments at SPring-8, a synchrotron radiation facility. From these experiments, the depth structure of the electric field was determined as well as properties of carriers in the detector and successfully reproduced the experimental data with simulated spectra.