1. The design and performance of the XL-Calibur anticoincidence shield.
- Author
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Iyer, N.K., Kiss, M., Pearce, M., Stana, T.-A., Awaki, H., Bose, R.G., Dasgupta, A., De Geronimo, G., Gau, E., Hakamata, T., Ishida, M., Ishiwata, K., Kamogawa, W., Kislat, F., Kitaguchi, T., Krawczynski, H., Lisalda, L., Maeda, Y., Matsumoto, H., and Miyamoto, A.
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POLARISCOPE , *BACKGROUND radiation , *TEST design , *POLARIMETRY , *PHOTOMULTIPLIERS , *X-rays - Abstract
The XL-Calibur balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimetry mission comprises a Compton-scattering polarimeter placed at the focal point of an X-ray mirror. The polarimeter is housed within a BGO anticoincidence shield, which is needed to mitigate the considerable background radiation present at the observation altitude of ∼ 40 km. This paper details the design, construction and testing of the anticoincidence shield, as well as the performance measured during the week-long maiden flight from Esrange Space Centre to the Canadian Northwest Territories in July 2022. The in-flight performance of the shield followed design expectations, with a veto threshold < 100 keV and a measured background rate of ∼ 0.5 Hz (20–40 keV). This is compatible with the scientific goals of the mission, where %-level minimum detectable polarisation is sought for a Hz-level source rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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