”XL-Calibur”, the next-generation balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimeter

Quin Abarr, Hisamitsu Awaki, Matthew G. Baring, Richard Bose, Dana Braun, Gianluigi de Geronimo, Paul Dowkontt, John Elliot, Teruaki Enoto, Manel Errando, Yasushi Fukazawa, Akihiro Furuzawa, Thomas Gadson, Epharaim Gau, Victor Guarino, Shuichi Gunji, Kenny Hall, Keon Harmon, Kengo Hattori, Kiyoshi HayashidaScott Heatwole, Arman Hossen, Fumiya Imazato, Kazunori Ishibashi, Manabu Ishida, Nirmal Kumar Iyer, Fabian Kislat, Mózsi Kiss, Takao Kitaguchi, David Kotsifakis, Henric Krawczynski, James Lanzi, Lindsey Lisalda, Yoshitomo Maeda, Hiroto Matake, Hironori Matsumoto, Taisei Mineta, Takuya Miyazawa, Tsunefumi Mizuno, Nozomi Nakaniwa, Takashi Okajima, Izabella Pastrani, Mark Pearce, Zachary Peterson, Chris Purdy, Brian Rauch, Felix Ryde, Yoshitaka Saito, Chris Shreeves, Garry Simburger, Carl Snow, Sean Spooner, Theodor Adrian Stana, David Stuchlik, Hiromitsu Takahashi, Tomoshi Takeda, Mai Takeo, Toru Tamagawa, Keisuke Tamura, Hiroshi Tsunemi, Nagomi Uchida, Yuusuke Uchida, Keisuke Uchiyama, Brett Vincent, Andrew West, Eric Wulf, Ryuya Yamamoto, Yuto Yoshida

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper introduces a second-generation balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimetry mission, XL-Calibur.1 The XL-Calibur will follow up on the X-Calibur mission which was flown from Dec. 29, 2018 for a 2.5 days balloon flight from McMurdo (the Antarctic). X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such as pulsars and binary black hole systems. The XL-Calibur contains a grazing incidence X-ray telescope with a focal plane detector unit that is sensitive to linear polarization. The telescope is very similar in design to the ASTRO-H HXT telescopes that has the world's largest effective area above 10 keV. XL-Calibur will use the same type of mirror. The detector unit combines a low atomic number Compton scatterer with a CdZnTe detector assembly to measure the polarization making use of the fact that polarized photons Compton scatter preferentially perpendicular to the electric field orientation. It also contains a CdZnTe imager at the bottom. The detector assembly is surrounded by a BGO anticoincidence shield. The pointing system with arcsecond accuracy will be achieved by the WASP (Wallops Arc Second Pointer) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. A first flight of the XL-Calibur is currently foreseen for 2022, flying from Sweden.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationSpace Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020
Subtitle of host publicationUltraviolet to Gamma Ray
EditorsJan-Willem A. den Herder, Shouleh Nikzad, Kazuhiro Nakazawa
PublisherSPIE
ISBN (Electronic)9781510636750
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2020
EventSpace Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray - Virtual, Online, United States
Duration: 14-12-202018-12-2020

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume11444
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Conference

ConferenceSpace Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityVirtual, Online
Period14-12-2018-12-20

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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