Upcoming balloon flight of the nuclear Compton telescope

Steven E. Boggs; Mark S. Amman; Pierre Jean; Susan Amrose; Wayne Coburn; Robert P. Lin; David M. Smith; Paul N. Luke; Norman W. Madden; Morgan Burks; Ethan L. Hull; Peter von Ballmoos; William W. Craig; Klaus Ziock

doi:10.1117/12.461144

11 March 2003 Upcoming balloon flight of the nuclear Compton telescope

Steven E. Boggs, Mark S. Amman, Pierre Jean, Susan Amrose, Wayne Coburn, Robert P. Lin, David M. Smith, Paul N. Luke, Norman W. Madden, Morgan Burks, Ethan L. Hull, Peter von Ballmoos, William W. Craig, Klaus Ziock

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4851, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Telescopes and Instruments for Astronomy; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461144
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

Our collaboration is developing a 2-detector prototype high resolution Compton telescope utilizing 3D imaging germanium detectors (GeDs) for a test balloon flight in Spring 2003. This instrument is a prototype for a full 12-GeD instrument, the Nuclear Compton Telescope. NCT is a balloon-borne soft gamma-ray (0.2-15 MeV) telescope designed to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission and polarization. The NCT program is designed to develop and test the technologies and analysis techniques crucial for the Advanced Compton Telescope, while studying gamma-ray radiation with very high spectral resolution, moderate angular resolution, and high sensitivity. NCT has a novel, ultra-compact design optimized for studying nuclear line emission in the critical 0.5-2 MeV range, and polarization in the 0.2-0.5 MeV range. This prototype flight will critically test the novel instrument technologies, analysis techniques, and background rejection procedures we have developed for high resolution Compton telescopes. We present the design and expected performance of this prototype NCT instrument.

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Steven E. Boggs, Mark S. Amman, Pierre Jean, Susan Amrose, Wayne Coburn, Robert P. Lin, David M. Smith, Paul N. Luke, Norman W. Madden, Morgan Burks, Ethan L. Hull, Peter von Ballmoos, William W. Craig, and Klaus Ziock "Upcoming balloon flight of the nuclear Compton telescope", Proc. SPIE 4851, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Telescopes and Instruments for Astronomy, (11 March 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461144

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