Abstract
We have been developing a Compton scatter polarimeter for measuring the linear polarization of hard X-rays (100-300 keV) from astrophysical sources. A laboratory prototype polarimeter has been used to successfully demonstrate the reliability of our Monte Carlo simulation code and to demonstrate our ability to generate a polarized photon source in the lab. Our design concept places a self-containedpolarimeter module on the front-end of a a 5-inch position sensitive PMT (PSPMT). We are currently working on the fabrication of a science model based on this PSPMT concept. Although the emphasis of our development effort is towards measuring hard X-rays from solar flares, our design has the advantage that it is sensitive over a rather large field-of-view (>1 steradian), a feature that makes it especially attractive for γ-ray burst studies.
Department
Space Science Center, Physics
Publication Date
11-1998
Journal Title
Conference Record of the 1998 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium
Publisher
IEEE
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
10.1109/NSSMIC.1998.775233
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Recommended Citation
McConnell, M.L.; Macri, J.R.; McClish, M.; Ryan, J.; Forrest, D.J.; Vestrand, W.T., "Development of a hard X-ray polarimeter for astrophysics," Nuclear Science Symposium, 1998. Conference Record. 1998 IEEE , vol.1, no., pp.698,704 vol.1, 1998.
Rights
c 1999 IEEE