Calibrating the HXMT collimators using diffuse illumination

We propose a new method to calibrate the HXMT collimators by measuring the optical point spread function (PSF) of the hard X-ray modulation telescope (HXMT). The light transmission of the collimator at different viewing angles with a camera and a diffuse backlight placed behind the collimator is measured. This method is much easier to accomplish than measuring the PSF with a parallel optical beam. The experimental results are very consistent with the simulations. The PSF of the collimator of the high energy X-ray telescope on HXMT is found to be in good agreement with the design, with accuracy better than 1 arcmin.