Reaching a low-level and well understood internal instrumental background is crucial for the scientific performance of an X-ray detector and, therefore, a main objective of the instrument designers. Monte-Carlo simulations of the physics processes and interactions taking place in a space-based X-ray detector as a result of its orbital environment can be applied to explain the measured background of existing missions. They are thus an excellent tool to predict and optimize the background of future observatories. Weak points of a design and the main sources of the background can be identified and methods to reduce them can be implemented and studied within the simulations. Using the Geant4 Monte-Carlo toolkit, we have created a simulation environment for space-based detectors and we present results of such background simulations for XMM-Newton's EPIC pn-CCD camera. The environment is also currently used to estimate and optimize the background of the future instruments Simbol-X and eRosita.

Date Published: 15 July 2008
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 7011, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2008: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 70112G (15 July 2008); doi: 10.1117/12.789685

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 7011:
Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2008: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray
Martin J. L. Turner; Kathryn A. Flanagan, Editor(s)