Low temperature testing and neutron irradiation of a swept charge device on board the HXMT satellite

We present the low temperature testing of an SCD detector, investigating its performance such as readout noise, energy resolution at 5.9 keV and dark current. The SCD's performance is closely related to temperature, and the temperature range of -80 ℃ to -50 ℃ is the best choice, where the FWHM at 5.9 keV is about 130 eV. The influence of the neutron irradiation from an electrostatic accelerator with fluence up to 1×10⁹ cm^-2 has been examined. We find the SCD is not vulnerable to neutron irradiation. The detailed operations of the SCD and the test results of low temperature are reported, and the results of neutron irradiation are discussed.     

Measurements of charge transfer ef f iciency in a proton-irradiated swept charge device

Charged Coupled Devices(CCDs) have been successfully used in several low energy X-ray astronomical satellites over the past two decades. Their high energy resolution and high spatial resolution make them a perfect tool for low energy astronomy, such as observing the formation of galaxy clusters and the environment around black holes. The Low Energy X-ray Telescope(LE) group is developing a Swept Charge Device(SCD) for the Hard Xray Modulation Telescope(HXMT) satellite. A SCD is a special low energy X-ray CCD, which can be read out a thousand times faster than traditional CCDs, simultaneously keeping excellent energy resolution. A test method for measuring the charge transfer efficiency(CTE) of a prototype SCD has been set up. Studies of the charge transfer inefficiency(CTI) with a proton-irradiated SCD have been performed at a range of operating temperatures. The SCD is irradiated by 3×108cm-210 MeV protons.     

Design and optimization of the readout system for X-ray CCDs

A readout system for X-ray CCDs based on an improved architecture is presented; by optimizing several critical circuit blocks along the analog signal chain, the conflict between the readout speed and readout noise is greatly alleviated. Using CCD47-10 as its target CCD, the readout system has achieved 8.6e^- readout noise and 142 eV FWHM at 5.9 keV Mn m K_α under a pixel rate of 80 kHz. Also its performance of imaging has been investigated.     

硬X射线调制望远镜低能探测器量子效率标定

低能X射线望远镜是硬X射线调制望远镜卫星的主要载荷之一,探测器采用CCD236.探测器的量子效率会影响能谱拟合和绝对流量,有必要对其进行标定.利用~(55)Fe放射源,以硅漂移探测器为标准探测器,标定了CCD236在Mn-K_α(5.899 keV)和Mn-K_β(6.497 keV)能量点处的量子效率,此能段在Fe线附近,对X射线天文观测有重要价值.考虑探测器的分裂事例后,Mn-K_α和Mn-K_β处的量子效率分别为71%和62%.在-95—-30?C工作温度范围内,CCD量子效率与温度无关.利用CCD236的结构及实测的量子效率,不考虑沟阻影响,得到耗尽层厚度为38μm.对CCD236施加不同的电压,其量子效率基本不变,表明其在两相驱动下高低电平的耗尽层厚度相等,进而说明CCD236一直工作在深耗尽状态,其耗尽层到了外延层和衬底层边界,已达最大值.     

EP-FXT聚焦镜真实表面状态的性能模拟方法

后随X射线望远镜(follow-up X-ray telescope, FXT)是爱因斯坦探针卫星的主要载荷之一.为了获取高信噪比的数据,实现对观测天体的高精度定位, FXT使用Wolter-Ⅰ型X射线聚焦光学系统,该系统一直是X射线空间天文观测中的重要设备.根据Wolter-Ⅰ型的聚焦原理,结合实际的加工特点,利用蒙特卡罗模拟算法对影响光学成像质量的几个关键参量,如表面粗糙度、面形误差进行了模拟,结合模拟结果对各参量的作用效果进行了分析.之后利用PANTER实验室提供的聚焦镜性能测试结果对模拟方法进行了验证,同时对面形误差参量进行了限制.最终聚焦镜结构热控件半能量宽度(half energy width, HEW)模拟与实测结果基本一致.该模拟过程可以很有效地应用于聚焦镜加工工艺的摸索,为FXT的聚焦镜测试和标定工作提供参考.结合实测标定数据,该模拟方法生成的有效面积、渐晕和点扩散函数等可用于在轨观测标定数据库.     

Proton irradiation effect on SCDs

The Low Energy X-ray Telescope is one of the main payloads on the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope satellite.Swept charge devices(SCDs)are selected as detectors for the Low Energy X-ray Telescope.As SCDs are sensitive to proton irradiation,irradiation tests were carried out on the HI-13 accelerator at the China Institute of Atomic Energy.The beam energy was measured to be 10 MeV at the SCD.The proton fluence delivered to the SCD was 3×108protons/cm2over two hours.By comparing the performance before and after irradiation,it is concluded that proton irradiation affects both the dark current and the charge transfer inefficiency of the SCD.The energy resolution of the proton-irradiated SCD is 212 eV@5.9 keV at-60?C,while it before irradiated is 134 eV.Moreover,better performance can be reached by lowering the operating temperature of the SCD in orbit.     

A digital CDS technique and its performance testing

Readout noise is a critical parameter for characterizing the performance of charge-coupled devices (CCDs), which can be greatly reduced by the correlated double sampling (CDS) circuit. However, a conventional CDS circuit inevitably introduces new noise since it consists of several active analog components such as operational amplifiers. This paper proposes a digital CDS circuit technique, which transforms the pre-amplified CCD signal into a train of digital presentations by a high-speed data acquisition card directly without the noisy CDS circuit, then implements the digital CDS algorithm through a numerical method. A readout noise of 3.3 e^- and an energy resolution of 121 eV@5.9 keV can be achieved via the digital CDS technique.     

Thermal analysis and expected performance of the low energy instrument on board the HXMT satellite

The Low Energy X-ray Instrument （LE） of the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope （HXMT） uses the Swept Charge Device （SCD） to detect the X-rays in 1-15 keV. The performance of SCD is vulnerable to temperature. We analyzed the thermal condition of LE at different satellite working attitudes with the Finite Element Method （FEM）. It is shown that the angle between the sunlight and the normal line of the barrier should be less them 26°, to keep the SCD detectors working in the required temperature range, i.e. -40 ℃ to -80 ℃. We find that the performance of LE is very stable in this temperature range, with a typical energy resolution of 160 eV at 5.9 keV.     

HXMT卫星低能X射线望远镜

正1.引言软X射线是天体物理研究的重要能段之一,很多天体的X射线辐射都在这一能段有辐射,如热辐射、同步辐射和X射线荧光等。空间软X射线望远镜构型一般可分为聚焦型和准直型两类。聚焦型望远镜采用掠入射聚焦镜头,将X光汇聚成像,可获得天体的图像、能谱和时变等信息。准直型望远镜采用准直器限制望远镜的视场,阻挡来自其他方向的杂散光进入探测器,一般多用于时变和