We outline our plan to develop ProtoEXIST, a balloon-borne prototype experiment for the Energetic X-ray Imaging Survey Telescope (EXIST) for the Black Hole Finder Probe. EXIST will consist of multiple wide-field hard X-ray coded-aperture telescopes. The current design of the EXIST mission employs two types of telescope systems: high energy telescopes (HETs) using CZT detectors, and low energy telescopes (LETs) using Si detectors. With ProtoEXIST, we will develop and demonstrate the technologies required for the EXIST HETs. As part of our development efforts, we also present recent laboratory measurements of the spectral response and efficiency variation of imaging CZT detectors on a fine scale (~0.5 mm). The preliminary results confirm the need for multi-pixel readouts and small inter-pixel gaps to achieve uniform spectral response and high detection efficiency across detectors.

Date Published: 18 August 2005
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 5898, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XIV, 58980N (18 August 2005); doi: 10.1117/12.617630

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5898:
UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XIV
Oswald H. W. Siegmund, Editor(s)