Study of the polarimetric performance of a Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton camera for the Hitomi satellite

Abstract Gamma-ray polarization offers a unique probe into the geometry of the γ -ray emission process in celestial objects. The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) onboard the X-ray observatory Hitomi is a Si/CdTe Compton camera and is expected to be an excellent polarimeter, as well as a highly sensitive spectrometer due to its good angular coverage and resolution for Compton scattering. A beam test of the final-prototype for the SGD Compton camera was conducted to demonstrate its polarimetric capability and to verify and calibrate the Monte Carlo simulation of the instrument. The modulation factor of the SGD prototype camera, evaluated for the inner and outer parts of the CdTe sensors as absorbers, was measured to be 0.649–0.701 (inner part) and 0.637–0.653 (outer part) at 122.2 keV and 0.610–0.651 (inner part) and 0.564–0.592 (outer part) at 194.5 keV at varying polarization angles with respect to the detector. This indicates that the relative systematic uncertainty of the modulation factor is as small as ∼ 3 % .

[1]  Yasushi Fukazawa,et al.  Development of low-noise double-sided silicon strip detector for cosmic soft gamma-ray compton camera , 2005 .

[2]  Hiroyasu Tajima.  Gamma-ray Polarimetry , 2003 .

[3]  I. Grenier,et al.  Polarization of the Crab Pulsar and Nebula as Observed by the INTEGRAL/IBIS Telescope , 2008, 0809.1292.

[4]  Y. Fukazawa,et al.  Polarimetric performance of Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton camera , 2010 .

[5]  Tadayui Takahashi,et al.  Recent progress in CdTe and CdZnTe detectors , 2001, astro-ph/0107398.

[6]  Yasushi Fukazawa,et al.  Development of an integrated response generator for Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton cameras , 2010 .

[7]  S. Incerti,et al.  Geant4 developments and applications , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[8]  A. Dell'Acqua,et al.  Geant4 - A simulation toolkit , 2003 .

[9]  Yasushi Fukazawa,et al.  The first demonstration of the concept of “narrow-FOV Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton camera” , 2016 .

[10]  Tadayuki Takahashi,et al.  Low-noise double-sided silicon strip detector for multiple-compton gamma-ray telescope , 2002, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[11]  Tadayuki Takahashi,et al.  Soft gamma-ray detector (SGD) onboard the ASTRO-H mission , 2014, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[12]  Ikaros Demonstration Team,et al.  DETECTION OF GAMMA-RAY POLARIZATION IN PROMPT EMISSION OF GRB 100826A , 2011, 1111.1779.

[13]  Tadayuki Takahashi,et al.  Wide band X-ray Imager (WXI) and Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) for the NeXT Mission , 2004, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[14]  S. Covino,et al.  The polarized gamma-ray burst GRB 061122 , 2013, 1303.4186.

[15]  T. Takahashi,et al.  Demonstration of in-vivo Multi-Probe Tracker Based on a Si/CdTe Semiconductor Compton Camera , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science.

[16]  Michael Redfern,et al.  A recent change in the optical and γ-ray polarization of the Crab nebula and pulsar , 2015, 1511.07641.

[17]  Yoshiharu Namba,et al.  The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory , 2012, Other Conferences.

[18]  Yoshiharu Namba,et al.  The ASTRO-H X-ray astronomy satellite , 2014, Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation.

[19]  B. Ramsey,et al.  X-Ray Polarimetry and Its Potential Use for Understanding Neutron Stars , 2006, astro-ph/0611483.

[20]  F. Lei,et al.  Compton Polarimetry in Gamma-Ray Astronomy , 1997 .

[21]  Yasushi Fukazawa,et al.  The Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton camera of the ASTRO-H Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD) , 2014, 1509.00588.

[22]  S. Watanabe,et al.  The Soft Gamma-ray Detector for the ASTRO-H mission , 2009, 2009 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS/MIC).

[23]  J. Stephen,et al.  Polarized Gamma-Ray Emission from the Crab , 2008, Science.

[24]  H. Yamaoka,et al.  Performance of bent-crystal monochromators for high-energy synchrotron radiation. , 2000, Journal of synchrotron radiation.

[25]  Takuya Takahashi,et al.  MAGNETIC STRUCTURES IN GAMMA-RAY BURST JETS PROBED BY GAMMA-RAY POLARIZATION , 2012, 1208.5287.

[26]  Yasushi Fukazawa,et al.  Development of double-sided silicon strip detectors (DSSD) for a Compton telescope , 2007 .