Monte Carlo polarimetric simulations of a hard x-ray energy telescope

R. M. Curado da Silva; Ezio Caroli; John Buchan Stephen; Paul Siffert

doi:10.1117/12.454233

25 January 2002 Monte Carlo polarimetric simulations of a hard x-ray energy telescope

R. M. Curado da Silva, Ezio Caroli, John Buchan Stephen, Paul Siffert

Proceedings Volume 4497, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Instrumentation for Astronomy XII; (2002) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.454233
Event: International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, 2001, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The polarisation of astrophysical source emissions in the energy range from a few tens of keV up to the MeV region is an almost unexplored field of high energy astrophysics. In order to improve the capabilities of performing polarimetric studies of hard X and soft gamma ray sources through Compton polarimetry, a CdTe based telescope (CIPHER: Coded Imager and Polarimeter for High Energy Radiation) is under study. This instrument is based on a thick (10 mm) CdTe position sensitive spectrometer made of four modules of 32x32 individual pixels, each with a surface area of 2x2 mm², corresponding to about 160 cm² active detection area. This detector, due to its intrinsic geometry, could allow efficient polarimetric measurements to be made between 100 keV and 1 MeV. In order to predict the polarimetric performance and to optimise the design and concept of the CIPHER detection plane, a Monte Carlo code based on GEANT4 library modules was developed to simulate the detector behaviour under a polarised photon flux. The Compton double event efficiency, as well bi-dimensional double event distribution maps and the corresponding polarimetric modulation factor will be presented and discussed. Modulation (Q) factors better than 0.30 and double event total efficiencies over 10 % for an energy range from 100 keV to 1 MeV have been obtained.

Citation Download Citation

R. M. Curado da Silva, Ezio Caroli, John Buchan Stephen, and Paul Siffert "Monte Carlo polarimetric simulations of a hard x-ray energy telescope", Proc. SPIE 4497, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Instrumentation for Astronomy XII, (25 January 2002); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.454233

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