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X-Ray Polarimetry Workshop SLAC, Stanford, California 9-11 February 2004 |
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Development of an X-ray polarimeter with a gas detector, Mu-PIC
Masaru
Ueno
Kyoto University
masaru@cr.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp
M. Ueno, H. Kubo, K. Miuchi, T. Nagayoshi, R. Orito, A. Takada, A. Takeda, T. Tanimori, T. Tsuru
We are developing an X-ray polarimeter applying our detector, Mu-PIC. Mu-PIC is a position-sensitive gas detector, with small electrodes on an insulating support. The pitch of the electrodes is 400 micron and tracks of charged particles can be obtained at this resolution. Since high gain (~16000) can be obtained, Mu-PIC is robust against discharge and strong against heavy ions, which is a good point when it is used in space. Since the thin structure of Mu-PIC do not stop X-rays, low detection efficiency as a gas detector can be compensated by superposing multiple detectors. We measured X-ray polarization using Mu-PIC with strip readout, changing X-ray energy (5-20keV) and gas mixtures (neon-, and argon-based). As a result, modulation factors of 0.18 (at 9keV) and 0.12 (at 14keV) were obtained for a neon-based mixture and an argon-based one, respectively. We also found our simulation reproduces the results of the experiment quite well. According to the simulation, the sensitivity to the X-ray polarization should be improved by pixelizing the readout. We are now manufacturing Mu-PIC with 16 x 16 = 256 pixels, each of which can be independently read out.
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For more information, contact
Jennifer Formichelli |
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