Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2016: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray | (2016) | Publications

SMILE: a joint ESA/CAS mission to investigate the interaction between the solar wind and Earth's magnetosphere
Author(s): Walfried Raab; Graziella Branduardi-Raymont; Chi Wang; Lei Dai; Eric Donovan; Greg Enno; Philippe Escoubet; Andrew Holland; Li Jing; Dhiren Kataria; Lei Li; Andy Read; Denis Rebuffat; Jens Romstedt; Chris Runciman; Steve Sembay; Emma Spanswick; Jon Sykes; Julian Thornhill; Arno Wielders; Aibing Zhang; Jianhua Zheng

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The Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope onboard Aditya-L1
Author(s): Avyarthana Ghosh; Subhamoy Chatterjee; Aafaque R. Khan; Durgesh Tripathi; A. N. Ramaprakash; Dipankar Banerjee; Pravin Chordia; Achim M. Gandorfer; Natalie Krivova; Dibyendu Nandy; Chaitanya Rajarshi; Sami K. Solanki; S. Sriram

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World Space Observatory Ultraviolet mission: status 2016
Author(s): Mikhail Sachkov; Boris Shustov; Ana Inés Gómez de Castro

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Galaxy evolution spectroscopic explorer: scientific rationale
Author(s): Sara Heap; Zoran Ninkov; Massimo Robberto; Tony Hull; Lloyd Purves

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CHISL: the combined high-resolution and imaging spectrograph for the LUVOIR surveyor
Author(s): Kevin France; Brian Fleming; Keri Hoadley

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NASA is currently carrying out science and technical studies to identify its next astronomy flagship mission, slated to begin development in the 2020s. It has become clear that a Large Ultraviolet/Optical/IR (LUVOIR) Surveyor mission (d_primary ≈ 12 m, Δλ ≈ 1000 Å – 2 μm spectroscopic bandpass) can carry out the largest number of NASA’s exoplanet and astrophysics science goals over the coming decades. The science grasp of a LUVOIR Surveyor is broad, ranging from the direct detection of potential biomarkers on rocky planets to the flow of matter into and out of galaxies and the history of star-formation across cosmic time. There are technical challenges for several aspects of the LUVOIR Surveyor concept, including component level technology readiness maturation and science instrument concepts for a broadly capable ultraviolet spectrograph. We present the scientific motivation for, and a preliminary design of, a multiplexed ultraviolet spectrograph to support both the exoplanet and astrophysics goals of the LUVOIR Surveyor mission concept, the Combined High-resolution and Imaging Spectrograph for the LUVOIR Surveyor (CHISL). CHISL includes a highresolution (R ≈ 120,000; 1000 - 1700Å) point-source spectroscopy channel and a medium resolution (R ≥ 14,000 from 1000 – 2000 Å in a single observation and R ~ 24,000 – 35,000 in multiple grating settings) imaging spectroscopy channel. CHISL addresses topics ranging from characterizing the composition and structure of planet-forming disks to the feedback of matter between galaxies and the intergalactic medium. We present the CHISL concept, a small sample of representative science cases, and the primary technological hurdles. Technical challenges include high-efficiency ultraviolet coatings and high-quantum efficiency, large-format, photon counting detectors. We are actively engaged in laboratory and flight characterization efforts for all of these enabling technologies as components on sounding rocket payloads under development at the University of Colorado. We describe two payloads that are designed to be pathfinder instruments for the high-resolution (CHESS) and imaging spectroscopy (SISTINE) arms of CHISL. We are carrying out this instrument design, characterization, and flight-testing today to support the new start of a LUVOIR Surveyor mission in the next decade.

Optical design and optical properties of a VUV spectrographic imager for ICON mission
Author(s): Jerome Loicq; Christian Kintziger; Alexandra Mazzoli; Tim Miller; Cathy Chou; Harald U. Frey; Thomas J. Immel; Stephen B. Mende

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Chromospheric LAyer SpectroPolarimeter (CLASP2)
Author(s): Noriyuki Narukage; David E. McKenzie; Ryoko Ishikawa; Javier Trujillo-Bueno; Bart De Pontieu; Masahito Kubo; Shin-nosuke Ishikawa; Ryouhei Kano; Yoshinori Suematsu; Masaki Yoshida; Laurel A. Rachmeler; Ken Kobayashi; Jonathan W. Cirtain; Amy R. Winebarger; Andres Asensio Ramos; Tanausu del Pino Aleman; Jiri Štĕpán; Luca Belluzzi; Juan Ignacio Larruquert; Frédéric Auchère; Jorrit Leenaarts; Mattias J. L. Carlsson

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The Miniature X-ray Solar Spectrometer (MinXSS) CubeSats: spectrometer characterization techniques, spectrometer capabilities, and solar science objectives
Author(s): Christopher Samuel Moore; Thomas N. Woods; Amir Caspi; James Paul Mason

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SISTINE: a pathfinder for FUV imaging spectroscopy on future NASA astrophysics missions
Author(s): Brian T. Fleming; Kevin France; Nicholas Nell; Nicholas Kruczek; Robert Kane; James Green; Manuel A. Quijada; Javier Del Hoyo; Oswald Siegmund

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Ultraviolet imaging detectors for the GOLD mission
Author(s): O. H. W. Siegmund; J. McPhate; T. Curtis; S. Jelinsky; J. V. Vallerga; J. Hull; J. Tedesco

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The FOXSI solar sounding rocket campaigns
Author(s): Lindsay Glesener; Säm Krucker; Steven Christe; Shin-nosuke Ishikawa; Juan Camilo Buitrago-Casas; Brian Ramsey; Mikhail Gubarev; Tadayuki Takahashi; Shin Watanabe; Shin'ichiro Takeda; Sasha Courtade; Paul Turin; Stephen McBride; Van Shourt; Jane Hoberman; Natalie Foster; Juliana Vievering

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Flight production of Caliste-SO: the hard x-ray spectrometers for solar orbiter/STIX instrument
Author(s): Olivier Limousin; Aline Meuris; Olivier Gevin; Claire Blondel; Modeste Donati; Luc Dumaye; Isabelle Le Mer; Jérôme Martignac; Thierry Tourrette; Marie-Cécile Vassal; Dominique Blain; Mohamed Boussadia; Nicolas Fiant; Fabrice Soufflet; Martin Bednarzik; Guy Birrer; Stefan Stutz; Christopher Wild; Marc Billot; Isabelle Fratter; Oliver Grimm; Säm Krucker

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Development of a 32-detector CdTe matrix for the SVOM ECLAIRs x/gamma camera: tests results of first flight models
Author(s): K. Lacombe; J.-P. Dezalay; B. Houret; C. Amoros; J.-L. Atteia; K. Aubaret; M. Billot; S. Bordon; B. Cordier; S. Delaigue; M. Galliano; O. Gevin; O. Godet; F. Gonzalez; Ph. Guillemot; O. Limousin; K. Mercier; G. Nasser; R. Pons; D. Rambaud; P. Ramon; V. Waegebaert

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Fast event recognition for x-ray silicon imagers
Author(s): David N. Burrows; Eli Hughes; Tyler Anderson; Abraham D. Falcone; Karl Reichard; Mark Bautz; Ralph Kraft

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Development of wide-field low-energy x-ray imaging detectors for HiZ-GUNDAM
Author(s): Kazuki Yoshida; Daisuke Yonetoku; Tatsuya Sawano; Hirokazu Ikeda; Atsushi Harayama; Makoto Arimoto; Yasuaki Kagawa; Masao Ina; Satoshi Hatori; Kyo Kume; Satoshi Mizushima; Takashi Hasegawa

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Front-end ASICs for high-energy astrophysics in space
Author(s): O. Gevin; O. Limousin; A. Meuris

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In most of embedded imaging systems for space applications, high granularity and increasing size of focal planes justify an almost systematic use of integrated circuits. . To fulfill challenging requirements for excellent spatial and energy resolution, integrated circuits must fit the sensors perfectly and interface the system such a way to optimize simultaneously noise, geometry and architecture. Moreover, very low power consumption and radiation tolerance are mandatory to envision a use onboard a payload in space. Consequently, being part of an optimized detection system for space, the integrated circuit is specifically designed for each application and becomes an Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC). The paper focuses on mixed analog and digital signal ASICs for spectro-imaging systems in the keVMeV energy band.

The first part of the paper summarizes the main advantages conferred by the use of front-end ASICs for highenergy astrophysics instruments in space mission. Space qualification of ASICs requires the chip to be radiation hard. The paper will shortly describe some of the typical hardening techniques and give some guidelines that an ASIC designer should follow to choose the most efficient technology for his project.

The first task of the front-end electronics is to convert the charge coming from the detector into a voltage. For most of the Silicon detectors (CCD, DEPFET, SDD) this is conversion happens in the detector itself. For other sensor materials, charge preamplifiers operate the conversion. The paper shortly describes the different key parameters of charge preamplifiers and the binding parameters for the design. Filtering is generally mandatory in order to increase the signal to noise ratio or to reduce the duration of the signal. After a brief review on the main noise sources, the paper reviews noise-filtering techniques that are commonly used in Integrated circuits designs.

The way sensors and ASICs are interconnected together plays a major role in the noise performances of the detection systems. The geometry of a sensor is therefore critical and drives the ASIC design. The second part of the paper takes the geometry of the detector as a story line to explore different kinds of ASIC structures and architectures. From the simple single-channel ASIC for CCDs to the most advanced 3D ASIC prototypes used to build dead-zone free imaging systems, the paper reports on different families of circuits for spectro-imaging systems. It emphasizes a variety of designer choices, all around the word, in different space missions.

Development of x-ray microcalorimeter imaging spectrometers for the X-ray Surveyor mission concept
Author(s): Simon R. Bandler; Joseph S. Adams; James A. Chervenak; Aaron M. Datesman; Megan E. Eckart; Fred M. Finkbeiner; Richard L. Kelley; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Gabriele Betancourt-Martinez; Antoine R. Miniussi; Frederick S. Porter; John E. Sadleir; Kazuhiro Sakai; Stephen J. Smith; Thomas R. Stevenson; Nicholas A. Wakeham; Edward J. Wassell; Wonsik Yoon; Dan Becker; Douglas Bennett; William B. Doriese; Joseph W. Fowler; Johnathan D. Gard; Gene C. Hilton; Benjamin Mates; Kelsey M. Morgan; Carl D. Reintsema; Daniel Swetz; Joel N. Ullom; Saptarshi Chaudhuri; Kent D. Irwin; Sang-Jun Lee; Alexey Vikhlinin

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Toward large µ-calorimeters x-ray matrices based on metal-insulator sensors and HEMTs/SiGe cryo-electronics
Author(s): J. L. Sauvageot; C. Pigot; X. de la Broïse; T. Charvolin; H. Sahin; M. Rodriguez; F. Lugiez; A. Le Coguie; Q. Dong; Y. Jin

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The ASTRO-H (Hitomi) x-ray astronomy satellite
Author(s): Tadayuki Takahashi; Motohide Kokubun; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Richard Kelley; Takaya Ohashi; Felix Aharonian; Hiroki Akamatsu; Fumie Akimoto; Steve Allen; Naohisa Anabuki; Lorella Angelini; Keith Arnaud; Makoto Asai; Marc Audard; Hisamitsu Awaki; Magnus Axelsson; Philipp Azzarello; Chris Baluta; Aya Bamba; Nobutaka Bando; Marshall Bautz; Thomas Bialas; Roger Blandford; Kevin Boyce; Laura Brenneman; Greg Brown; Esra Bulbul; Edward Cackett; Edgar Canavan; Maria Chernyakova; Meng Chiao; Paolo Coppi; Elisa Costantini; Jelle de Plaa; Jan-Willem den Herder; Michael DiPirro; Chris Done; Tadayasu Dotani; John Doty; Ken Ebisawa; Megan Eckart; Teruaki Enoto; Yuichiro Ezoe; Andrew Fabian; Carlo Ferrigno; Adam Foster; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Yasushi Fukazawa; Akihiro Furuzawa; Massimiliano Galeazzi; Luigi Gallo; Poshak Gandhi; Kirk Gilmore; Margherita Giustini; Andrea Goldwurm; Liyi Gu; Matteo Guainazzi; Daniel Haas; Yoshito Haba; Kouichi Hagino; Kenji Hamaguchi; Atsushi Harayama; Ilana Harrus; Isamu Hatsukade; Takayuki Hayashi; Katsuhiro Hayashi; Kiyoshi Hayashida; Junko Hiraga; Kazuyuki Hirose; Ann Hornschemeier; Akio Hoshino; John Hughes; Yuto Ichinohe; Ryo Iizuka; Yoshiyuki Inoue; Hajime Inoue; Kazunori Ishibashi; Manabu Ishida; Kumi Ishikawa; Kosei Ishimura; Yoshitaka Ishisaki; Masayuki Itoh; Naoko Iwata; Naoko Iyomoto; Chris Jewell; Jelle Kaastra; Timothy Kallman; Tuneyoshi Kamae; Erin Kara; Jun Kataoka; Satoru Katsuda; Junichiro Katsuta; Madoka Kawaharada; Nobuyuki Kawai; Taro Kawano; Shigeo Kawasaki; Dmitry Khangulyan; Caroline Kilbourne; Mark Kimball; Ashley King; Takao Kitaguchi; Shunji Kitamoto; Tetsu Kitayama; Takayoshi Kohmura; Tatsuro Kosaka; Alex Koujelev; Katsuji Koyama; Shu Koyama; Peter Kretschmar; Hans Krimm; Aya Kubota; Hideyo Kunieda; Philippe Laurent; François Lebrun; Shiu-Huang Lee; Maurice Leutenegger; Olivier Limousin; Michael Loewenstein; Knox Long; David Lumb; Grzegorz Madejski; Yoshitomo Maeda; Daniel Maier; Kazuo Makishima; Maxim Markevitch; Candace Masters; Hironori Matsumoto; Kyoko Matsushita; Dan McCammon; Daniel McGuinness; Brian McNamara; Missagh Mehdipour; Joseph Miko; Jon Miller; Eric Miller; Shin Mineshige; Kenji Minesugi; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Takuya Miyazawa; Tsunefumi Mizuno; Koji Mori; Hideyuki Mori; Franco Moroso; Harvey Moseley; Theodore Muench; Koji Mukai; Hiroshi Murakami; Toshio Murakami; Richard Mushotzky; Housei Nagano; Ryo Nagino; Takao Nakagawa; Hiroshi Nakajima; Takeshi Nakamori; Toshio Nakano; Shinya Nakashima; Kazuhiro Nakazawa; Yoshiharu Namba; Chikara Natsukari; Yusuke Nishioka; Masayoshi Nobukawa; Kumiko Nobukawa; Hirofumi Noda; Masaharu Nomachi; Steve O'Dell; Hirokazu Odaka; Hiroyuki Ogawa; Mina Ogawa; Keiji Ogi; Masanori Ohno; Masayuki Ohta; Takashi Okajima; Atsushi Okamoto; Tsuyoshi Okazaki; Naomi Ota; Masanobu Ozaki; Frederik Paerels; Stéphane Paltani; Arvind Parmar; Robert Petre; Ciro Pinto; Martin Pohl; James Pontius; F. Scott Porter; Katja Pottschmidt; Brian Ramsey; Christopher Reynolds; Helen Russell; Samar Safi-Harb; Shinya Saito; Shin-ichiro Sakai; Kazuhiro Sakai; Hiroaki Sameshima; Toru Sasaki; Goro Sato; Yoichi Sato; Kosuke Sato; Rie Sato; Makoto Sawada; Norbert Schartel; Peter Serlemitsos; Hiromi Seta; Yasuko Shibano; Maki Shida; Megumi Shidatsu; Takanobu Shimada; Keisuke Shinozaki; Peter Shirron; Aurora Simionescu; Cynthia Simmons; Randall Smith; Gary Sneiderman; Yang Soong; Łukasz Stawarz; Yasuharu Sugawara; Hiroyuki Sugita; Satoshi Sugita; Andrew Szymkowiak; Hiroyasu Tajima; Hiromitsu Takahashi; Shin'ichiro Takeda; Yoh Takei; Toru Tamagawa; Takayuki Tamura; Keisuke Tamura; Takaaki Tanaka; Yasuo Tanaka; Yasuyuki Tanaka; Makoto Tashiro; Yuzuru Tawara; Yukikatsu Terada; Yuichi Terashima; Francesco Tombesi; Hiroshi Tomida; Yohko Tsuboi; Masahiro Tsujimoto; Hiroshi Tsunemi; Takeshi Tsuru; Hiroyuki Uchida; Yasunobu Uchiyama; Hideki Uchiyama; Yoshihiro Ueda; Shutaro Ueda; Shiro Ueno; Shin'ichiro Uno; Meg Urry; Eugenio Ursino; Cor de Vries; Atsushi Wada; Shin Watanabe; Tomomi Watanabe; Norbert Werner; Daniel Wik; Dan Wilkins; Brian Williams; Takahiro Yamada; Shinya Yamada; Hiroya Yamaguchi; Kazutaka Yamaoka; Noriko Yamasaki; Makoto Yamauchi; Shigeo Yamauchi; Tahir Yaqoob; Yoichi Yatsu; Daisuke Yonetoku; Atsumasa Yoshida; Takayuki Yuasa; Irina Zhuravleva; Abderahmen Zoghbi

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The Astro-H high resolution soft x-ray spectrometer
Author(s): Richard L. Kelley; Hiroki Akamatsu; Phillipp Azzarello; Tom Bialas; Kevin R. Boyce; Gregory V. Brown; Edgar Canavan; Meng P. Chiao; Elisa Costantini; Michael J. DiPirro; Megan E. Eckart; Yuichiro Ezoe; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Daniel Haas; Jan-Willem den Herder; Akio Hoshino; Kumi Ishikawa; Yoshitaka Ishisaki; Naoko Iyomoto; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Mark O. Kimball; Shunji Kitamoto; Saori Konami; Shu Koyama; Maurice A. Leutenegger; Dan McCammon; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Harvey Moseley; Hiroshi Murakami; Masahide Murakami; Hirofumi Noda; Mina Ogawa; Takaya Ohashi; Atsushi Okamoto; Naomi Ota; Stéphane Paltani; F. Scott Porter; Kazuhiro Sakai; Kosuke Sato; Yohichi Sato; Makoto Sawada; Hiromi Seta; Keisuke Shinozaki; Peter J. Shirron; Gary A. Sneiderman; Hiroyuki Sugita; Andrew E. Szymkowiak; Yoh Takei; Toru Tamagawa; Makoto Tashiro; Yukikatsu Terada; Masahiro Tsujimoto; Cor P. de Vries; Shinya Yamada; Noriko Y. Yamasaki; Yoichi Yatsu

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In-flight performance of the Soft X-ray Spectrometer detector system on Astro-H
Author(s): Frederick S. Porter; Kevin R. Boyce; Meng P. Chiao; Megan E. Eckart; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Yoshitaka Ishisaki; Richard L. Kelley; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Maurice A. Leutenegger; Dan McCammon; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Kosuke Sato; Hiromi Seta; Makoto Sawada; Gary A. Sneiderman; Andrew E. Szymkowiak; Yoh Takei; Makoto S. Tashiro; Masahiro Tsujimoto; Tomomi Watanabe; Shinya Yamada

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Vibration isolation system for cryocoolers of Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard ASTRO-H (Hitomi)
Author(s): Yoh Takei; Susumu Yasuda; Kosei Ishimura; Naoko Iwata; Atsushi Okamoto; Yoichi Sato; Mina Ogawa; Makoto Sawada; Taro Kawano; Shingo Obara; Chikara Natsukari; Atsushi Wada; Shinya Yamada; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Motohide Kokubun; Noriko Y. Yamasaki; Hiroyuki Sugita; Kenji Minesugi; Yasuo Nakamura; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Tadayuki Takahashi; Seiji Yoshida; Shoji Tsunematsu; Kenichi Kanao; Katsuhiro Narasaki; Kiyomi Otsuka; Richard L. Kelley; F. Scott Porter; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Meng P. Chiao; Megan E. Eckart; Gary A. Sneiderman; James T. Pontius; Dan McCammon; Paul Wilke; John Basile

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In-orbit operation of the ASTRO-H SXS
Author(s): Masahiro Tsujimoto; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Richard L. Kelley; Jan-Willem A. den Herder; Hiroki Akamatsu; Thomas G. Bialas; Kevin R. Boyce; Gregory V. Brown; Meng P. Chiao; Elisa Costantini; Cor P. de Vries; Michael J. DiPirro; Megan E. Eckart; Yuichiro Ezoe; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Daniel Haas; Akio Hoshino; Kumi Ishikawa; Yoshitaka Ishisaki; Naoko Iyomoto; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Shunji Kitamoto; Shu Koyama; Maurice A. Leutenegger; Dan McCammon; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Hiroshi Murakami; Masahide Murakami; Hirofumi Noda; Mina Ogawa; Naomi Ota; Stéphane Paltani; Frederick S. Porter; Kosuke Sato; Yoichi Sato; Makoto Sawada; Hiromi Seta; Keisuke Shinozaki; Peter J. Shirron; Gary A. Sneiderman; Hiroyuki Sugita; Andrew E. Szymkowiak; Yoh Takei; Toru Tamagawa; Makoto S. Tashiro; Yukikatsu Terada; Shinya Yamada; Noriko Y. Yamasaki; Yoichi Yatsu

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First peek of ASTRO-H Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) in-orbit performance
Author(s): Takashi Okajima; Yang Soong; Peter Serlemitsos; Hideyuki Mori; Larry Olsen; David Robinson; Richard Koenecke; Bill Chang; Devin Hahne; Ryo Iizuka; Manabu Ishida; Yoshitomo Maeda; Toshiki Sato; Naomichi Kikuchi; Sho Kurashima; Nozomi Nakaniwa; Takayuki Hayashi; Kazunori Ishibashi; Takuya Miyazawa; Kenji Tachibana; Keisuke Tamura; Akihiro Furuzawa; Yuzuru Tawara; Satoshi Sugita

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ASTRO-H (Hitomi) is a Japanese X-ray astrophysics satellite just launched in February, 2016, from Tanegashima, Japan by a JAXA's H-IIA launch vehicle. It has two Soft X-ray Telescopes (SXTs), among other instruments, that were developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in collaboration with ISAS/JAXA and Nagoya University. One is for an X-ray micro-calorimeter instrument (Soft X-ray Spectrometer, SXS) and the other for an X-ray CCD camera (Soft X-ray Imager, SXI), both covering the X-ray energy band up to 15 keV. The two SXTs were fully characterized at the 30-m X-ray beamline at ISAS/JAXA. The combined SXT+SXS system effective area is about 250 and 300 cm² at 1 and 6 keV, respectively, although observations were performed with the gate valve at the dewar entrance closed, which blocks most of low energy X-rays and some of high energy ones. The angular resolution for SXS is 1.2 arcmin (Half Power Diameter, HPD). The combined SXT+SXI system effective area is about 370 and 350 cm² at 1 and 6 keV, respectively. The angular resolution for SXI is 1.3 arcmin (HPD). The both SXTs have a field of view of about 16 arcmin (FWHM of their vignetting functions). The SXT+SXS field of view is limited to 3 x 3 arcmin by the SXS array size. In-flight data available to the SXT team was limited at the time of this conference and a point-like source data is not available for the SXT+SXS. Although due to lack of attitude information we were unable to reconstruct a point spread function of SXT+SXI, according to RXJ1856.5-3754 data, the SXT seems to be working as expected in terms of imaging capability. As for the overall effective area response for both SXT+SXS and SXT+SXI, consistent spectral model fitting parameters with the previous measurements were obtained for Crab and G21.5-0.9 data. On the other hand, their 2-10 keV fluxes differ by about 20% at this point. Calibration work is still under progress. The SXT is the latest version of the aluminum foil X-ray mirror, which is extremely light-weight and very low cost, yet produces large effective area over a wide energy-band. Its area-mass ratio is the largest, 16 cm²/kg, among ASTRO-H, Chandra, and XMM-Newton mirrors. The aluminum foil mirror is a still compelling technology depending on the mission science goal.

Soft x-ray imager (SXI) onboard ASTRO-H
Author(s): Hiroshi Tsunemi; Kiyoshi Hayashida; Takeshi Go Tsuru; Tadayasu Dotani; Hiroshi Nakajima; Naohisa Anabuki; Ryo Nagino; Takaaki Tanaka; Hiroyuki Uchida; Masanobu Ozaki; Chikara Natsukari; Hiroshi Tomida; Shutaro Ueda; Masachika Iwai; Masayoshi Nobukawa; Junko S. Hiraga; Takayoshi Kohmura; Hiroshi Murakami; Koji Mori; Makoto Yamauchi; Isamu Hatsukade; Yusuke Nishioka; Aya Bamba; Kumiko K. Nobukawa; John Doty

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The hard x-ray imager (HXI) onboard ASTRO-H
Author(s): Kazuhiro Nakazawa; Goro Sato; Motohide Kokubun; Teruaki Enoto; Yasushi Fukazawa; Kouichi Hagino; Atsushi Harayama; Katsuhiro Hayashi; Jun Kataoka; Junichiro Katsuta; Philippe Laurent; François Lebrun; Olivier Limousin; Kazuo Makishima; Tsunefumi Mizuno; Kunishiro Mori; Takeshi Nakamori; Toshio Nakano; Hirofumi Noda; Hirokazu Odaka; Masanori Ohno; Masayuki Ohta; Shinya Saito; Rie Sato; Hiroyasu Tajima; Hiromitsu Takahashi; Tadayuki Takahashi; Shin'ichiro Takeda; Yukikatsu Terada; Hideki Uchiyama; Yasunobu Uchiyama; Shin Watanabe; Kazutaka Yamaoka; Yoichi Yatsu; Takayuki Yuasa

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Performance of ASTRO-H hard x-ray telescope (HXT)
Author(s): Hisamitsu Awaki; Hideyo Kunieda; Manabu Ishida; Hironori Matsumoto; Akihiro Furuzawa; Yoshito Haba; Takayuki Hayashi; Ryo Iizuka; Kazunori Ishibashi; Masayuki Itoh; Tatsuro Kosaka; Yoshitomo Maeda; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Takuya Miyazawa; Hideyuki Mori; Hosei Nagano; Yoshiharu Namba; Yasushi Ogasaka; Keiji Ogi; Takashi Okajima; Satoshi Sugita; Yoshio Suzuki; Keisuke Tamura; Yuzuru Tawara; Kentaro Uesugi; Shigeo Yamauchi

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The soft gamma-ray detector (SGD) onboard ASTRO-H
Author(s): Shin Watanabe; Hiroyasu Tajima; Yasushi Fukazawa; Roger Blandford; Teruaki Enoto; Andrea Goldwurm; Kouichi Hagino; Katsuhiro Hayashi; Yuto Ichinohe; Jun Kataoka; Junichiro Katsuta; Takao Kitaguchi; Motohide Kokubun; Philippe Laurent; François Lebrun; Olivier Limousin; Grzegorz M. Madejski; Kazuo Makishima; Tsunefumi Mizuno; Kunishiro Mori; Takeshi Nakamori; Toshio Nakano; Kazuhiro Nakazawa; Hirofumu Noda; Hirokazu Odaka; Masanori Ohno; Masayuki Ohta; Shinya Saito; Goro Sato; Rie Sato; Shin'ichiro Takeda; Hiromitsu Takahashi; Tadayuki Takahashi; Takaaki Tanaka; Yasuyuki Tanaka; Yukikatsu Terada; Hideki Uchiyama; Yasunobu Uchiyama; Kazutaka Yamaoka; Yoichi Yatsu; Daisuke Yonetoku; Takayuki Yuasa

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Astro-H data analysis, processing and archive
Author(s): Lorella Angelini; Yukitatsu Terada; Michael Loewenstein; Eric D. Miller; Hiroya Yamaguchi; Tahir Yaqoob; Hans Krimm; Ilana Harrus; Hiromitsu Takahashi; Masayoshi Nobukawa; Makoto Sawada; Michael Witthoeft; Kristin Rutkowski; Andrew Sargent; Robert S. Hill; Michael Dutka; Joseph Eggen

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XIPE: the x-ray imaging polarimetry explorer
Author(s): P. Soffitta; R. Bellazzini; E. Bozzo; V. Burwitz; A. Castro-Tirado; E. Costa; T. Courvoisier; H. Feng; S. Gburek; R. Goosmann; V. Karas; G. Matt; F. Muleri; K. Nandra; M. Pearce; J. Poutanen; V. Reglero; D. Sabau Maria; A. Santangelo; G. Tagliaferri; C. Tenzer; J. Vink; M. C. Weisskopf; S. Zane; I. Agudo; A. Antonelli; P. Attina; L. Baldini; A. Bykov; R. Carpentiero; E. Cavazzuti; E. Churazov; E. Del Monte; D. De Martino; I. Donnarumma; V. Doroshenko; Y. Evangelista; I. Ferreira; E. Gallo; N. Grosso; P. Kaaret; E. Kuulkers; J. Laranaga; L. Latronico; D. H. Lumb; J. Macian; J. Malzac; F. Marin; E. Massaro; M. Minuti; C. Mundell; J. U. Ness; T. Oosterbroek; S. Paltani; G. Pareschi; R. Perna; P.-O. Petrucci; H. B. Pinazo; M. Pinchera; J. P. Rodriguez; M. Roncadelli; A. Santovincenzo; S. Sazonov; C. Sgro; D. Spiga; J. Svoboda; C. Theobald; T. Theodorou; R. Turolla; E. Wilhelmi de Ona; B. Winter; A. M. Akbar; H. Allan; R. Aloisio; D. Altamirano; L. Amati; E. Amato; E. Angelakis; J. Arezu; J.-L. Atteia; M. Axelsson; M. Bachetti; L. Ballo; S. Balman; R. Bandiera; X. Barcons; S. Basso; A. Baykal; W. Becker; E. Behar; B. Beheshtipour; R. Belmont; E. Berger; F. Bernardini; S. Bianchi; G. Bisnovatyi-Kogan; P. Blasi; P. Blay; A. Bodaghee; M. Boer; M. Boettcher; S. Bogdanov; I. Bombaci; R. Bonino; J. Braga; W. Brandt; A. Brez; N. Bucciantini; L. Burderi; I. Caiazzo; R. Campana; S. Campana; F. Capitanio; M. Cappi; M. Cardillo; P. Casella; O. Catmabacak; B. Cenko; P. Cerda-Duran; C. Cerruti; S. Chaty; M. Chauvin; Y. Chen; J. Chenevez; M. Chernyakova; C. C. Teddy Cheung; D. Christodoulou; P. Connell; R. Corbet; F. Coti Zelati; S. Covino; W. Cui; G. Cusumano; A. D’Ai; F. D’Ammando; M. Dadina; Z. Dai; A. De Rosa; L. de Ruvo; N. Degenaar; M. Del Santo; L. Del Zanna; G. Dewangan; S. Di Cosimo; N. Di Lalla; G. Di Persio; T. Di Salvo; T. Dias; C. Done; M. Dovciak; G. Doyle; L. Ducci; R. Elsner; T. Enoto; J. Escada; P. Esposito; C. Eyles; S. Fabiani; M. Falanga; S. Falocco; Y. Fan; R. Fender; M. Feroci; C. Ferrigno; W. Forman; L. Foschini; C. Fragile; F. Fuerst; Y. Fujita; J. L. Gasent-Blesa; J. Gelfand; B. Gendre; G. Ghirlanda; G. Ghisellini; M. Giroletti; D. Goetz; E. Gogus; J.-L. Gomez; D. Gonzalez; R. Gonzalez-Riestra; E. Gotthelf; L. Gou; P. Grandi; V. Grinberg; F. Grise; C. Guidorzi; N. Gurlebeck; T. Guver; D. Haggard; M. Hardcastle; D. Hartmann; C. Haswell; A. Heger; M. Hernanz; J. Heyl; L. Ho; J. Hoormann; J. Horak; J. Huovelin; D. Huppenkothen; R. Iaria; C. Inam Sitki; A. Ingram; G. Israel; L. Izzo; M. Burgess; M. Jackson; L. Ji; J. Jiang; T. Johannsen; C. Jones; S. Jorstad; J. J. E. Kajava; M. Kalamkar; E. Kalemci; T. Kallman; A. Kamble; F. Kislat; M. Kiss; D. Klochkov; E. Koerding; M. Kolehmainen; K. Koljonen; S. Komossa; A. Kong; S. Korpela; M. Kowalinski; H. Krawczynski; I. Kreykenbohm; M. Kuss; D. Lai; M. Lan; J. Larsson; S. Laycock; D. Lazzati; D. Leahy; H. Li; J. Li; L.-X. Li; T. Li; Z. Li; M. Linares; M. Lister; H. Liu; G. Lodato; A. Lohfink; F. Longo; G. Luna; A. Lutovinov; S. Mahmoodifar; J. Maia; V. Mainieri; C. Maitra; D. Maitra; A. Majczyna; S. Maldera; D. Malyshev; A. Manfreda; A. Manousakis; R. Manuel; R. Margutti; A. Marinucci; S. Markoff; A. Marscher; H. Marshall; F. Massaro; M. McLaughlin; G. Medina-Tanco; M. Mehdipour; M. Middleton; R. Mignani; P. Mimica; T. Mineo; B. Mingo; G. Miniutti; S. M. Mirac; G. Morlino; A. V. Motlagh; S. Motta; A. Mushtukov; S. Nagataki; F. Nardini; J. Nattila; G. J. Navarro; B. Negri; Matteo Negro; S. Nenonen; V. Neustroev; F. Nicastro; A. Norton; A. Nucita; P. O’Brien; S. O’Dell; H. Odaka; B. Olmi; N. Omodei; M. Orienti; M. Orlandini; J. Osborne; L. Pacciani; V. S. Paliya; I. Papadakis; A. Papitto; Z. Paragi; P. Pascal; B. Paul; L. Pavan; A. Pellizzoni; E. Perinati; M. Pesce-Rollins; E. Piconcelli; A. G. Pili; M. Pilia; M. Pohl; G. Ponti; D. Porquet; A. Possenti; K. Postnov; I. Prandoni; N. Produit; G. Puehlhofer; B. Ramsey; M. Razzano; N. Rea; P. Reig; K. Reinsch; T. Reiprich; M. Reynolds; G. Risaliti; T. Roberts; J. Rodriguez; M. E. Rossi; S. Rosswog; A. Rozanska; A. Rubini; B. Rudak; D. Russell; F. Ryde; S. Sabatini; G. Sala; M. Salvati; M. Sasaki; T. Savolainen; R. Saxton; S. Scaringi; K. Schawinski; N. S. Schulz; A. Schwope; P. Severgnini; M. Sharon; A Shaw; A. Shearer; X. Shesheng; I. -C. Shih; K. Silva; R. Silva; E. Silver; A. Smale; F. Spada; G. Spandre; A. Stamerra; B. Stappers; S. Starrfield; L. Stawarz; N. Stergioulas; A. Stevens; H. Stiele; V. Suleimanov; R. Sunyaev; A. Slowikowska; F. Tamborra; F. Tavecchio; R. Taverna; A. Tiengo; L. Tolos; F. Tombesi; J. Tomsick; H. Tong; G. Torok; D. F. Torres; A. Tortosa; A. Tramacere; V. Trimble; G. Trinchieri; S. Tsygankov; M. Tuerler; S. Turriziani; F. Ursini; P. Uttley; P. Varniere; F. Vincent; E. Vurgun; C. Wang; Z. Wang; A. Watts; J. C. Wheeler; K. Wiersema; R. Wijnands; J. Wilms; A. Wolter; K. Wood; K. Wu; X. Wu; W. Xiangyu; F. Xie; R. Xu; S.-P. Yan; J. Yang; W. Yu; F. Yuan; A. Zajczyk; D. Zanetti; R. Zanin; C. Zanni; L. Zappacosta; A. A. Zdziarski; A. Zech; H. Zhang; S. Zhang; S. Zhang; W. Zhang; A. Zoghbi

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The Polarimeter for Relativistic Astrophysical X-ray Sources
Author(s): Keith Jahoda; Timothy R. Kallman; Chryssa Kouveliotou; Lorella Angelini; J. Kevin Black; Joanne E. Hill; Theodore Jaeger; Philip E. Kaaret; Craig B. Markwardt; Takashi Okajima; Robert Petre; Jeremy Schnittman; Yang Soong; Tod E. Strohmayer; Toru Tamagawa; Yuzuru Tawara

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The Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE)
Author(s): Martin C. Weisskopf; Brian Ramsey; Stephen O'Dell; Allyn Tennant; Ronald Elsner; Paolo Soffitta; Ronaldo Bellazzini; Enrico Costa; Jeffrey Kolodziejczak; Victoria Kaspi; Fabio Muleri; Herman Marshall; Giorgio Matt; Roger Romani

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Hard x-ray imaging polarimeter for PolariS
Author(s): Kiyoshi Hayashida; Juyong Kim; Masaaki Sadamoto; Keigo Yoshinaga; Shuichi Gunji; Tatehiro Mihara; Yuji Kishimoto; Hidetoshi Kubo; Tsunefumi Mizuno; Hiromitsu Takahashi; Tadayasu Dotani; Daisuke Yonetoku; Takeshi Nakamori; Tomokage Yoneyama; Yuki Ikeyama; Fumiyoshi Kamitsukasa

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The x-ray polarimeter instrument on board the Polarimeter for Relativistic Astrophysical X-ray Sources (PRAXyS) mission
Author(s): J. E. Hill; J. K. Black; K. Jahoda; T. Tamagawa; W. Iwakiri; T. Kitaguchi; M. Kubota; P. Kaaret; R. McCurdy; D. M. Miles; T. Okajima; Y. Soong; L. Olsen; L. Sparr; S. J. Mosely; D. Nolan

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Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC) instrument onboard ASTROSAT
Author(s): J. S. Yadav; P. C. Agrawal; H. M. Antia; Jai Verdhan Chauhan; Dhiraj Dedhia; Tilak Katoch; P. Madhwani; R. K. Manchanda; Ranjeev Misra; Mayukh Pahari; B. Paul; Parag Shah

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In-orbit performance of SXT aboard AstroSat
Author(s): Kulinder Pal Singh; Gordon C. Stewart; Sunil Chandra; Kallol Mukerjee; Sanket Kotak; Andy P. Beardmore; Varsha Chitnis; Gulab C. Dewangan; Sudip Bhattacharyya; Irfan Mirza; Nilima Kamble; Vinita Navalkar; Harshit Shah; S. Vishwakarma; J. Koyande

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In-orbit performance of UVIT on ASTROSAT
Author(s): Annapurni Subramaniam; Shyam N. Tandon; John Hutchings; Swarna K. Ghosh; Koshy George; V. Girish; P. U. Kamath; S. Kathiravan; Amit Kumar; J. Paul Lancelot; P. K. Mahesh; Rekhesh Mohan; Jayant Murthy; S. Nagabhushana; Ashok K. Pati; Joe Postma; N. Kameswara Rao; Kasiviswanathan Sankarasubramanian; P. Sreekumar; S. Sriram; Chelliah S. Stalin; Firoza Sutaria; Yuvraj Harsha Sreedhar; Indrajit V. Barve; Chayan Mondal; Snehalate Sahu

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In-orbit performance AstroSat CZTI
Author(s): Santosh V. Vadawale; A. R. Rao; Dipankar Bhattacharya; Varun B. Bhalerao; Gulab Chand Dewangan; Ajay M. Vibhute; Mithun N. P. S.; Tanmoy Chattopadhyay; S. Sreekumar

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The Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER): design and development
Author(s): Keith C. Gendreau; Zaven Arzoumanian; Phillip W. Adkins; Cheryl L. Albert; John F. Anders; Andrew T. Aylward; Charles L. Baker; Erin R. Balsamo; William A. Bamford; Suyog S. Benegalrao; Daniel L. Berry; Shiraz Bhalwani; J. Kevin Black; Carl Blaurock; Ginger M. Bronke; Gary L. Brown; Jason G. Budinoff; Jeffrey D. Cantwell; Thoniel Cazeau; Philip T. Chen; Thomas G. Clement; Andrew T. Colangelo; Jerry S. Coleman; Jonathan D. Coopersmith; William E. Dehaven; John P. Doty; Mark D. Egan; Teruaki Enoto; Terry W.-M. Fan; Deneen M. Ferro; Richard Foster; Nicholas M. Galassi; Luis D. Gallo; Chris M. Green; Dave Grosh; Kong Q. Ha; Monther A. Hasouneh; Kristofer B. Heefner; Phyllis Hestnes; Lisa J. Hoge; Tawanda M. Jacobs; John L. Jørgensen; Michael A. Kaiser; James W. Kellogg; Steven J. Kenyon; Richard G. Koenecke; Robert P. Kozon; Beverly LaMarr; Mike D. Lambertson; Anne M. Larson; Steven Lentine; Jesse H. Lewis; Michael G. Lilly; Kuochia Alice Liu; Andrew Malonis; Sridhar S. Manthripragada; Craig B. Markwardt; Bryan D. Matonak; Isaac E. Mcginnis; Roger L. Miller; Alissa L. Mitchell; Jason W. Mitchell; Jelila S. Mohammed; Charles A. Monroe; Kristina M. Montt de Garcia; Peter D. Mulé; Louis T. Nagao; Son N. Ngo; Eric D. Norris; Dwight A. Norwood; Joseph Novotka; Takashi Okajima; Lawrence G. Olsen; Chimaobi O. Onyeachu; Henry Y. Orosco; Jacqualine R. Peterson; Kristina N. Pevear; Karen K. Pham; Sue E. Pollard; John S. Pope; Daniel F. Powers; Charles E. Powers; Samuel R. Price; Gregory Y. Prigozhin; Julian B. Ramirez; Winston J. Reid; Ronald A. Remillard; Eric M. Rogstad; Glenn P. Rosecrans; John N. Rowe; Jennifer A. Sager; Claude A. Sanders; Bruce Savadkin; Maxine R. Saylor; Alexander F. Schaeffer; Nancy S. Schweiss; Sean R. Semper; Peter J. Serlemitsos; Larry V. Shackelford; Yang Soong; Jonathan Struebel; Michael L. Vezie; Joel S. Villasenor; Luke B. Winternitz; George I. Wofford; Michael R. Wright; Mike Y. Yang; Wayne H. Yu

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NICER instrument detector subsystem: description and performance
Author(s): Gregory Prigozhin; Keith Gendreau; John P. Doty; Richard Foster; Ronald Remillard; Andrew Malonis; Beverly LaMarr; Michael Vezie; Mark Egan; Jesus Villasenor; Zaven Arzoumanian; Wayne Baumgartner; Frank Scholze; Christian Laubis; Michael Krumrey; Alan Huber

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Status of ART-XC/SRG instrument
Author(s): M. Pavlinsky; V. Akimov; V. Levin; A. Krivchenko; A. Rotin; M. Kuznetsova; I. Lapshov; A. Tkachenko; N. Semena; M. Buntov; A. Glushenko; V. Arefiev; A. Yaskovich; S. Grebenev; S. Sazonov; M. Revnivtsev; A. Lutovinov; S. Molkov; R. Krivonos; D. Serbinov; M. Kudelin; T. Drozdova; S. Voronkov; R. Sunyaev; E. Churazov; M. Gilfanov; V. Babyshkin; I. Lomakin; A. Menderov; M. Gubarev; B. Ramsey; K. Kilaru; S. L. O'Dell; J. Kolodziejczak; R. Elsner; V. Zavlin; D. Swartz

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eROSITA on SRG
Author(s): Peter Predehl; Robert Andritschke; Vladimir Babyshkin; Werner Becker; Walter Bornemann; Heinrich Bräuninger; Hermann Brunner; Thomas Boller; Vadim Burwitz; Wolfgang Burkert; Nicolas Clerc; Eugene Churazov; Diogo Coutinho; Konrad Dennerl; Tom Dwelly; Josef Eder; Valentin Emberger; Michael Freyberg; Peter Friedrich; Maria Fürmetz; Antonis Georgakakis; Marat Gilfanov; Christoph Grossberger; Frank Haberl; Olaf Hälker; Gisela Hartner; Andreas v. Kienlin; Walter Kink; Ingo Kreykenbohm; Georg Lamer; Ilya Lomakin; Igor Lapshov; Norbert Meidinger; Andrea Merloni; Benjamin Mican; Siegfried Müller; Kirpal Nandra; Mikhail Pavlinsky; Elmar Pfeffermann; Daniel Pietschner; Jan Robrade; Mara Salvato; Andrea Santangelo; Manami Sasaki; Hartmut Scheuerle; Jürgen Schmitt; Axel Schwope; Rashid Sunyaev; Chris Tenzer; Valeri Yaroshenko; Jörn Wilms

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Localization algorithms for micro-channel x-ray telescope on board SVOM space mission
Author(s): L. Gosset; D. Götz; J. Osborne; R. Willingale

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The Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor (THESEUS)
Author(s): Lorenzo Amati; Paul T. O'Brien; Diego Götz

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DIOS: the dark baryon exploring mission
Author(s): T. Ohashi; Y. Ishisaki; Y. Ezoe; S. Yamada; G. Kuromaru; S. Suzuki; Y. Tawara; I. Mitsuishi; Y. Babazaki; K. Mitsuda; N. Y. Yamasaki; Y. Takei; R. Yamamoto; T. Hayashi; N. Ota; R. L. Kelley; K. Sakai

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A broadband x-ray imaging spectroscopy with high-angular resolution: the FORCE mission
Author(s): Koji Mori; Takeshi Go Tsuru; Kazuhiro Nakazawa; Yoshihiro Ueda; Takashi Okajima; Hiroshi Murakami; Hisamitsu Awaki; Hironori Matsumoto; Yasushi Fukazawa; Hiroshi Tsunemi; Tadayuki Takahashi; William W. Zhang

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We are proposing FORCE (Focusing On Relativistic universe and Cosmic Evolution) as a future Japan-lead Xray observatory to be launched in the mid 2020s. Hitomi (ASTRO-H) possesses a suite of sensitive instruments enabling the highest energy-resolution spectroscopy in soft X-ray band, a broadband X-ray imaging spectroscopy in soft and hard X-ray bands, and further high energy coverage up to soft gamma-ray band. FORCE is the direct successor to the broadband X-ray imaging spectroscopy aspect of Hitomi (ASTRO-H) with significantly higher angular resolution. The current design of FORCE defines energy band pass of 1-80 keV with angular resolution of < 15 in half-power diameter, achieving a 10 times higher sensitivity above 10 keV compared to any previous missions with simultaneous soft X-ray coverage. Our primary scientific objective is to trace the cosmic formation history by searching for "missing black holes" in various mass-scales: "buried supermassive black holes (SMBHs)" (> 10⁴ M_☉) residing in the center of galaxies in a cosmological distance, "intermediate-mass black holes" (10²–10⁴ M_☉) acting as the possible seeds from which SMBHs grow, and "orphan stellar-mass black holes" (< 10² M_☉) without companion in our Galaxy. In addition to these missing BHs, hunting for the nature of relativistic particles at various astrophysical shocks is also in our scope, utilizing the broadband X-ray coverage with high angular-resolution. FORCE are going to open a new era in these fields. The satellite is proposed to be launched with the Epsilon vehicle that is a Japanese current solid-fuel rocket. FORCE carries three identical pairs of Super-mirror and wide-band X-ray detector. The focal length is currently planned to be 10 m. The silicon mirror with multi-layer coating is our primary choice to achieve lightweight, good angular optics. The detector is a descendant of hard X-ray imager onboard Hitomi (ASTRO-H) replacing its silicon strip detector with SOI-CMOS silicon pixel detector, allowing an extension of the low energy threshold down to 1 keV or even less.

eXTP: Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarization mission
Author(s): S. N. Zhang; M. Feroci; A. Santangelo; Y. W. Dong; H. Feng; F. J. Lu; K. Nandra; Z. S. Wang; S. Zhang; E. Bozzo; S. Brandt; A. De Rosa; L. J. Gou; M. Hernanz; M. van der Klis; X. D. Li; Y. Liu; P. Orleanski; G. Pareschi; M. Pohl; J. Poutanen; J. L. Qu; S. Schanne; L. Stella; P. Uttley; A. Watts; R. X. Xu; W. F. Yu; J. J. M. in ’t Zand; S. Zane; L. Alvarez; L. Amati; L. Baldini; C. Bambi; S. Basso; S. Bhattacharyya; R. Bellazzini; T. Belloni; P. Bellutti; S. Bianchi; A. Brez; M. Bursa; V. Burwitz; C. Budtz-Jørgensen; I. Caiazzo; R. Campana; X. L. Cao; P. Casella; C. Y. Chen; L. Chen; T. Chen; Y. Chen; Y. Chen; Y. P. Chen; M. Civitani; F. Coti Zelati; W. Cui; W. W. Cui; Z. G. Dai; E. Del Monte; D. de Martino; S. Di Cosimo; S. Diebold; M. Dovciak; I. Donnarumma; V. Doroshenko; P. Esposito; Y. Evangelista; Y. Favre; P. Friedrich; F. Fuschino; J. L. Galvez; Z. L. Gao; M. Y. Ge; O. Gevin; D. Goetz; D. W. Han; J. Heyl; J. Horak; W. Hu; F. Huang; Q. S. Huang; R. Hudec; D. Huppenkothen; G. L. Israel; A. Ingram; V. Karas; D. Karelin; P. A. Jenke; L. Ji; S. Korpela; D. Kunneriath; C. Labanti; G. Li; X. Li; Z. S. Li; E. W. Liang; O. Limousin; L. Lin; Z. X. Ling; H. B. Liu; H. W. Liu; Z. Liu; B. Lu; N. Lund; D. Lai; B. Luo; T. Luo; B. Ma; S. Mahmoodifar; M. Marisaldi; A. Martindale; N. Meidinger; Y. P. Men; M. Michalska; R. Mignani; M. Minuti; S. Motta; F. Muleri; J. Neilsen; M. Orlandini; A. T. Pan; A. Patruno; E. Perinati; A. Picciotto; C. Piemonte; M. Pinchera; A. Rachevski; M. Rapisarda; N. Rea; E. M. R. Rossi; A. Rubini; G. Sala; X. W. Shu; C. Sgro; Z. X. Shen; P. Soffitta; L. M. Song; G. Spandre; G. Stratta; T. E. Strohmayer; L. Sun; J. Svoboda; G. Tagliaferri; C. Tenzer; T. Hong; R. Taverna; G. Torok; R. Turolla; S. Vacchi; J. Wang; D. Walton; K. Wang; J. F. Wang; R. J. Wang; Y. F. Wang; S. S. Weng; J. Wilms; B. Winter; X. Wu; X. F. Wu; S. L. Xiong; Y. P. Xu; Y. Q. Xue; Z. Yan; S. Yang; X. Yang; Y. J. Yang; F. Yuan; W. M. Yuan; Y. F. Yuan; G. Zampa; N. Zampa; A. Zdziarski; C. Zhang; C. L. Zhang; L. Zhang; X. Zhang; Z. Zhang; W. D. Zhang; S. J. Zheng; P. Zhou; X. L. Zhou

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eXTP is a science mission designed to study the state of matter under extreme conditions of density, gravity and magnetism. Primary goals are the determination of the equation of state of matter at supra-nuclear density, the measurement of QED effects in highly magnetized star, and the study of accretion in the strong-field regime of gravity. Primary targets include isolated and binary neutron stars, strong magnetic field systems like magnetars, and stellar-mass and supermassive black holes. The mission carries a unique and unprecedented suite of state-of-the-art scientific instruments enabling for the first time ever the simultaneous spectral-timing-polarimetry studies of cosmic sources in the energy range from 0.5-30 keV (and beyond). Key elements of the payload are: the Spectroscopic Focusing Array (SFA) - a set of 11 X-ray optics for a total effective area of ∼0.9 m² and 0.6 m² at 2 keV and 6 keV respectively, equipped with Silicon Drift Detectors offering <180 eV spectral resolution; the Large Area Detector (LAD) - a deployable set of 640 Silicon Drift Detectors, for a total effective area of ∼3.4 m², between 6 and 10 keV, and spectral resolution better than 250 eV; the Polarimetry Focusing Array (PFA) – a set of 2 X-ray telescope, for a total effective area of 250 cm² at 2 keV, equipped with imaging gas pixel photoelectric polarimeters; the Wide Field Monitor (WFM) - a set of 3 coded mask wide field units, equipped with position-sensitive Silicon Drift Detectors, each covering a 90 degrees x 90 degrees field of view. The eXTP international consortium includes major institutions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Universities in China, as well as major institutions in several European countries and the United States. The predecessor of eXTP, the XTP mission concept, has been selected and funded as one of the so-called background missions in the Strategic Priority Space Science Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 2011. The strong European participation has significantly enhanced the scientific capabilities of eXTP. The planned launch date of the mission is earlier than 2025.

The LOFT mission concept: a status update
Author(s): M. Feroci; E. Bozzo; S. Brandt; M. Hernanz; M. van der Klis; L.-P. Liu; P. Orleanski; M. Pohl; A. Santangelo; S. Schanne; L. Stella; T. Takahashi; H. Tamura; A. Watts; J. Wilms; S. Zane; S.-N. Zhang; S. Bhattacharyya; I. Agudo; M. Ahangarianabhari; C. Albertus; M. Alford; A. Alpar; D. Altamirano; L. Alvarez; L. Amati; L. Amati; C. Amoros; N. Andersson; A. Antonelli; A. Argan; R. Artigue; B. Artigues; J.-L. Atteia; P. Azzarello; P. Bakala; D. Ballantyne; G. Baldazzi; M. Baldo; S. Balman; M. Barbera; C. van Baren; D. Barret; A. Baykal; M. Begelman; E. Behar; O. Behar; T. Belloni; F. Bernardini; G. Bertuccio; S. Bianchi; A. Bianchini; P. Binko; P. Blay; F. Bocchino; M. Bode; P. Bodin; I. Bombaci; J.-M. Bonnet Bidaud; S. Boutloukos; F. Bouyjou; L. Bradley; J. Braga; M. S. Briggs; E. Brown; M. Buballa; N. Bucciantini; L. Burderi; M. Burgay; M. Bursa; C. Budtz-Jørgensen; E. Cackett; F. Cadoux; P. Cais; G. A. Caliandro; R. Campana; S. Campana; X. Cao; F. Capitanio; J. Casares; P. Casella; A. J. Castro-Tirado; E. Cavazzuti; Y. Cavechi; S. Celestin; P. Cerda-Duran; D. Chakrabarty; N. Chamel; F. Château; C. Chen; Y. Chen; Y. Chen; J. Chenevez; M. Chernyakova; J. Coker; R. Cole; A. Collura; M. Coriat; R. Cornelisse; L. Costamante; A. Cros; W. Cui; A. Cumming; G. Cusumano; B. Czerny; A. D'Aì; F. D'Ammando; V. D'Elia; Z. Dai; E. Del Monte; A. De Luca; D. De Martino; J. P. C. Dercksen; M. De Pasquale; A. De Rosa; M. Del Santo; S. Di Cosimo; N. Degenaar; J. W. den Herder; S. Diebold; T. Di Salvo; Y. Dong; I. Donnarumma; V. Doroshenko; G. Doyle; S. A. Drake; M. Durant; D. Emmanoulopoulos; T. Enoto; M. H. Erkut; P. Esposito; Y. Evangelista; A. Fabian; M. Falanga; Y. Favre; C. Feldman; R. Fender; H. Feng; V. Ferrari; C. Ferrigno; M. Finger; M. H. Finger; G. W. Fraser; M. Frericks; M. Fullekrug; F. Fuschino; M. Gabler; D. K. Galloway; J. L. Gálvez Sanchez; P. Gandhi; Z. Gao; E. Garcia-Berro; B. Gendre; O. Gevin; S. Gezari; A. B. Giles; M. Gilfanov; P. Giommi; G. Giovannini; M. Giroletti; E. Gogus; A. Goldwurm; K. Goluchová; D. Götz; L. Gou; C. Gouiffes; P. Grandi; M. Grassi; J. Greiner; V. Grinberg; P. Groot; M. Gschwender; L. Gualtieri; M. Guedel; C. Guidorzi; L. Guy; D. Haas; P. Haensel; M. Hailey; K. Hamuguchi; F. Hansen; D. H. Hartmann; C. A. Haswell; K. Hebeler; A. Heger; M. Hempel; W. Hermsen; J. Homan; A. Hornstrup; R. Hudec; J. Huovelin; D. Huppenkothen; S. C. Inam; A. Ingram; J. J. M. In't Zand; G. Israel; K. Iwasawa; L. Izzo; H. M. Jacobs; F. Jetter; T. Johannsen; P. A. Jenke; P. Jonker; J. Josè; P. Kaaret; K. Kalamkar; E. Kalemci; G. Kanbach; V. Karas; D. Karelin; D. Kataria; L. Keek; T. Kennedy; D. Klochkov; W. Kluzniak; E. Koerding; K. Kokkotas; S. Komossa; S. Korpela; C. Kouveliotou; A. F. Kowalski; I. Kreykenbohm; L. M. Kuiper; D. Kunneriath; A. Kurkela; I. Kuvvetli; F. La Franca; C. Labanti; D. Lai; F. K. Lamb; C. Lachaud; P. P. Laubert; F. Lebrun; X. Li; E. Liang; O. Limousin; D. Lin; M. Linares; D. Linder; G. Lodato; F. Longo; F. Lu; N. Lund; T. J. Maccarone; D. Macera; S. Maestre; S. Mahmoodifar; D. Maier; P. Malcovati; J. Malzac; C. Malone; I. Mandel; V. Mangano; A. Manousakis; M. Marelli; J. Margueron; M. Marisaldi; S. B. Markoff; A. Markowitz; A. Marinucci; A. Martindale; G. Martínez; I. M. McHardy; G. Medina-Tanco; M. Mehdipour; A. Melatos; M. Mendez; S. Mereghetti; S. Migliari; R. Mignani; M. Michalska; T. Mihara; M. C. Miller; J. M. Miller; T. Mineo; G. Miniutti; S. Morsink; C. Motch; S. Motta; M. Mouchet; G. Mouret; J. Mulačová; F. Muleri; T. Muñoz-Darias; I. Negueruela; J. Neilsen; T. Neubert; A. J. Norton; M. Nowak; A. Nucita; P. O'Brien; M. Oertel; P. E. H. Olsen; M. Orienti; M. Orio; M. Orlandini; J. P. Osborne; R. Osten; F. Ozel; L. Pacciani; F. Paerels; S. Paltani; M. Paolillo; I. Papadakis; A. Papitto; Z. Paragi; J. M. Paredes; A. Patruno; B. Paul; F. Pederiva; E. Perinati; A. Pellizzoni; A. V. Penacchioni; U. Peretz; M. A. Perez; M. Perez-Torres; B. M. Peterson; V. Petracek; C. Pittori; J. Pons; J. Portell; A. Possenti; K. Postnov; J. Poutanen; M. Prakash; I. Prandoni; H. Le Provost; D. Psaltis; J. Pye; J. Qu; D. Rambaud; P. Ramon; G. Ramsay; M. Rapisarda; A. Rashevski; I. Rashevskaya; P. S. Ray; N. Rea; S. Reddy; P. Reig; M. Reina Aranda; R. Remillard; C. Reynolds; L. Rezzolla; M. Ribo; R. de la Rie; A. Riggio; A. Rios; D. H. Rischke; P. Rodríguez-Gil; J. Rodriguez; R. Rohlfs; P. Romano; E. M. R. Rossi; A. Rozanska; A. Rousseau; B. Rudak; D. M. Russell; F. Ryde; L. Sabau-Graziati; T. Sakamoto; G. Sala; R. Salvaterra; D. Salvetti; A. Sanna; J. Sandberg; T. Savolainen; S. Scaringi; J. Schaffner-Bielich; H. Schatz; J. Schee; C. Schmid; M. Serino; N. Shakura; S. Shore; J. D. Schnittman; R. Schneider; A. Schwenk; A. D. Schwope; A. Sedrakian; J.-Y. Seyler; A. Shearer; A. Slowikowska; M. Sims; A. Smith; D. M. Smith; P. J. Smith; M. Sobolewska; V. Sochora; P. Soffitta; P. Soleri; L. Song; A. Spencer; A. Stamerra; B. Stappers; R. Staubert; A. W. Steiner; N. Stergioulas; A. L. Stevens; G. Stratta; T. E. Strohmayer; Z. Stuchlik; S. Suchy; V. Suleimanov; F. Tamburini; T. Tauris; F. Tavecchio; C. Tenzer; F. K. Thielemann; A. Tiengo; L. Tolos; F. Tombesi; J. Tomsick; G. Torok; J. M. Torrejon; D. F. Torres; E. Torresi; A. Tramacere; I. Traulsen; A. Trois; R. Turolla; S. Turriziani; S. Typel; P. Uter; P. Uttley; A. Vacchi; P. Varniere; S. Vaughan; S. Vercellone; M. Vietri; F. H. Vincent; V. Vrba; D. Walton; J. Wang; Z. Wang; S. Watanabe; R. Wawrzaszek; N. Webb; N. Weinberg; H. Wende; P. Wheatley; R. Wijers; R. Wijnands; M. Wille; C. A. Wilson-Hodge; B. Winter; S. J. Walk; K. Wood; S. E. Woosley; X. Wu; R. Xu; W. Yu; F. Yuan; W. Yuan; Y. Yuan; G. Zampa; N. Zampa; L. Zampieri; L. Zdunik; A. Zdziarski; A. Zech; B. Zhang; C. Zhang; S. Zhang; M. Zingale; F. Zwart

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Lightweight and high-resolution single crystal silicon optics for x-ray astronomy
Author(s): William W. Zhang; Michael P. Biskach; Kai-Wing Chan; James R. Mazzarella; Ryan S. McClelland; Raul E. Riveros; Timo T. Saha; Peter M. Solly

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Beyond Chandra (towards the X-ray Surveyor mission): possible solutions for the implementation of very high angular resolution X-ray telescopes in the new millennium based on fused silica segments
Author(s): G. Pareschi; S. Basso; M. M. Civitani; M. Ghigo; G. Parodi; C. Pelliciari; B. Salmaso; D. Spiga; G. Vecchi

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Development of a direct fabrication technique for full-shell x-ray optics
Author(s): M. Gubarev; J. K. Kolodziejczak; C. Griffith; J. Roche; W. S. Smith; T. Kester; C. Atkins; W. Arnold; B. Ramsey

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Critical-angle x-ray transmission grating spectrometer with extended bandpass and resolving power > 10,000
Author(s): Ralf K. Heilmann; Alexander R. Bruccoleri; Jeffery Kolodziejczak; Jessica A. Gaskin; Stephen L. O'Dell; Ritwik Bhatia; Mark L. Schattenburg

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A number of high priority subjects in astrophysics can be addressed by a state-of-the-art soft x-ray grating spectrometer, such as the role of Active Galactic Nuclei in galaxy and star formation, characterization of the Warm-Hot Intergalactic Medium and the missing baryon problem, characterization of halos around the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, as well as stellar coronae and surrounding winds and disks. An Explorer-scale, largearea (> 1,000 cm²), high resolving power (R =λ/Δλ > 3,000) soft x-ray grating spectrometer is highly feasible based on Critical-Angle Transmission (CAT) grating technology, even for telescopes with angular resolution of 5-10 arcsec. Still, significantly higher performance can be provided by a CAT grating spectrometer on an X-ray- Surveyor-type mission. CAT gratings combine the advantages of blazed reflection gratings (high efficiency, use of higher diffraction orders) with those of conventional transmission gratings (lowmass, relaxed alignment tolerances and temperature requirements, transparent at higher energies) with minimalmission resource requirements. They are high-efficiency blazed transmission gratings that consist of freestanding, ultra-high aspect-ratio grating bars fabricated from silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers using advanced anisotropic dry and wet etch techniques. Blazing is achieved through grazing-incidence reflection off the smooth grating bar sidewalls. The reflection properties of silicon are well matched to the soft x-ray band, and existing silicon CAT gratings can exceed 30% absolute diffraction efficiency, with clear paths for further improvement. Nevertheless, CAT gratings with sidewalls made of higher atomic number elements allow extension of the CAT grating principle to higher energies and larger dispersion angles, thus enabling higher resolving power at shorter wavelengths. We show x-ray data from CAT gratings coated with a thin layer of platinum using atomic layer deposition, and demonstrate efficient blazing to higher energies and much larger blaze angles than possible with silicon alone. We also report on measurements of the resolving power of a breadboard CAT grating spectrometer consisting of a Wolter-I slumped-glass focusing mirror pair from Goddard Space Flight Center and CAT gratings, performed at the Marshall Space Flight Center Stray Light Facility. Measurement of the Al Kα doublet in 18th diffraction order shows resolving power > 10,000, based on conservative preliminary analysis. This demonstrates that currently fabricated CAT gratings are compatible with the most advanced grating spectrometer instrument designs for future soft x-ray spectroscopy missions.

Aberrations in square pore micro-channel optics used for x-ray lobster eye telescopes
Author(s): R. Willingale; J. F. Pearson; A. Martindale; C. H. Feldman; R. Fairbend; E. Schyns; S. Petit; J. P. Osborne; P. T. O'Brien

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Development of x-ray multilayer telescope optics for XTP mission
Author(s): Zhengxiang Shen; Xiaoqiang Wang; Kun Wang; Bin Ma; Qiushi Huang; Zhong Zhang; Haifeng Wang; Ying Dai; Pengfei He; Zhanshan Wang

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Progress on the fabrication of high resolution and lightweight monocrystalline silicon x-ray mirrors
Author(s): Raul E. Riveros; Michael P. Biskach; Kim D. Allgood; James R. Mazzarella; Marton V. Sharpe; William W. Zhang

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Gas bearing slumping and figure correction of x-ray telescope mirror substrates
Author(s): Brandon Chalifoux; Heng Zuo; Graham Wright; Youwei Yao; Ralf K. Heilmann; Mark L. Schattenburg

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Slumped glass optics development with pressure assistance
Author(s): B. Salmaso; S. Basso; M. Civitani; M. Ghigo; J. Hołyszko; D. Spiga; G. Vecchi; G. Pareschi

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New lithographic techniques for x-ray spectroscopy
Author(s): Jake McCoy; Randall McEntaffer; Casey DeRoo

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ATHENA: system studies and optics accommodation
Author(s): M. Ayre; M. Bavdaz; I. Ferreira; E. Wille; S. Fransen; A. Stefanescu; M. Linder

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The ATHENA optics development
Author(s): Marcos Bavdaz; Eric Wille; Brian Shortt; Sebastiaan Fransen; Maximilien Collon; Nicolas Barriere; Alexei Yanson; Giuseppe Vacanti; Jeroen Haneveld; Coen van Baren; Karl-Heinz Zuknik; Finn Christensen; Desiree Della Monica Ferreira; Michael Krumrey; Vadim Burwitz; Giovanni Pareschi; Daniele Spiga; Giuseppe Valsecchi; Dervis Vernani

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Silicon pore optics for the ATHENA telescope
Author(s): Maximilien J. Collon; Giuseppe Vacanti; Ramses Günther; Alex Yanson; Nicolas Barriere; Boris Landgraf; Mark Vervest; Abdelhakim Chatbi; Roy van der Hoeven; Marco W. Beijersbergen; Marcos Bavdaz; Eric Wille; Brian Shortt; Jeroen Haneveld; Arenda Koelewijn; Coen van Baren; Alexander Eigenraam; Peter Müller; Michael Krumrey; Vadim Burwitz; Giovanni Pareschi; Paolo Conconi; Sonny Massahi; Finn E. Christensen; Giuseppe Valsecchi

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Mass production of silicon pore optics for ATHENA
Author(s): Eric Wille; Marcos Bavdaz; Maximilien Collon

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The wide field imager instrument for Athena
Author(s): Norbert Meidinger; Josef Eder; Tanja Eraerds; Kirpal Nandra; Daniel Pietschner; Markus Plattner; Arne Rau; Rafael Strecker

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The WFI (Wide Field Imager) instrument is planned to be one of two complementary focal plane cameras on ESA’s next X-ray observatory Athena. It combines unprecedented survey power through its large field of view of 40 amin x 40 amin together with excellent count rate capability (≥ 1 Crab). The energy resolution of the silicon sensor is state-of-the-art in the energy band of interest from 0.2 keV to 15 keV, e.g. the full width at half maximum of a line at 7 keV will be ≤ 170 eV until the end of the nominal mission phase. This performance is accomplished by using DEPFET active pixel sensors with a pixel size of 130 μm x 130 μm well suited to the on-axis angular resolution of 5 arcsec half energy width (HEW) of the mirror system. Each DEPFET pixel is a combined sensor-amplifier structure with a MOSFET integrated onto a fully depleted 450 μm thick silicon bulk. Two detectors are planned for the WFI instrument: A large-area detector comprising four sensors with a total of 1024 x 1024 pixels and a fast detector optimized for high count rate observations. This high count rate capable detector permits for bright point sources with an intensity of 1 Crab a throughput of more than 80% and a pile-up of less than 1%. The fast readout of the DEPFET pixel matrices is facilitated by an ASIC development, called VERITAS-2. Together with the Switcher-A, a control ASIC that allows for operation of the DEPFET in rolling shutter mode, these elements form the key components of the WFI detectors. The detectors are surrounded by a graded-Z shield, which has in particular the purpose to avoid fluorescence lines that would contribute to the instrument background. Together with ultra-thin coating of the sensor and particle identification by the detector itself, the particle induced background shall be minimized in order to achieve the scientific requirement of a total instrumental background value smaller than 5 x 10^-3 cts/cm²/s/keV. Each detector has its dedicated detector electronics (DE) for supply and data acquisition. Due to the high frame rate in combination with the large pixel array, signal correction and event filtering have to be done on-board and in real-time as the raw data rate would by far exceed the feasible telemetry rate. The data streams are merged and compressed in the Instrument Control and Power distribution Unit (ICPU). The ICPU is the data, control and power interface of the WFI to the Athena spacecraft. The WFI instrument comprises in addition a filter wheel (FW) in front of the camera as well as an optical stray-light baffle. In the current phase A of the Athena project, the technology development is performed. At its end, breadboard models will be developed and tested to demonstrate a technical readiness level (TRL) of at least 5 for the various WFI subsystems before mission adoption in 2020.

Athena Wide Field Imager key science drivers
Author(s): Arne Rau; Kirpal Nandra; James Aird; Andrea Comastri; Thomas Dauser; Andrea Merloni; Gabriel W. Pratt; Thomas H. Reiprich; Andy C. Fabian; Antonis Georgakakis; Manuel Güdel; Agata Różańska; Jeremy S. Sanders; Manami Sasaki; Simon Vaughan; Jörn Wilms; Norbert Meidinger

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Studies of prototype DEPFET sensors for the wide field imager of Athena
Author(s): Wolfgang Treberspurg; Robert Andritschke; Alexander Bähr; Davide Bianchi; Anna Koch; Norbert Meidinger; Johannes Müller-Seidlitz; Sabine Ott; Matteo Porro

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WFI electronics and on-board data processing
Author(s): Markus Plattner; Sebastian Albrecht; Jörg Bayer; Soeren Brandt; Paul Drumm; Olaf Hälker; Franz Kerschbaum; Anna Koch; Irfan Kuvvetli; Norbert Meidinger; Sabine Ott; Roland Ottensamer; Jonas Reiffers; Thomas Schanz; Konrad Skup; Manfred Steller; Chris Tenzer; Chris Thomas

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Thermal analysis of the WFI on the ATHENA observatory
Author(s): Maria Fürmetz; Daniel Pietschner; Norbert Meidinger

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The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU)
Author(s): Didier Barret; Thien Lam Trong; Jan-Willem den Herder; Luigi Piro; Xavier Barcons; Juhani Huovelin; Richard Kelley; J. Miguel Mas-Hesse; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Stéphane Paltani; Gregor Rauw; Agata Rożanska; Joern Wilms; Marco Barbera; Enrico Bozzo; Maria Teresa Ceballos; Ivan Charles; Anne Decourchelle; Roland den Hartog; Jean-Marc Duval; Fabrizio Fiore; Flavio Gatti; Andrea Goldwurm; Brian Jackson; Peter Jonker; Caroline Kilbourne; Claudio Macculi; Mariano Mendez; Silvano Molendi; Piotr Orleanski; François Pajot; Etienne Pointecouteau; Frederick Porter; Gabriel W. Pratt; Damien Prêle; Laurent Ravera; Etienne Renotte; Joop Schaye; Keisuke Shinozaki; Luca Valenziano; Jacco Vink; Natalie Webb; Noriko Yamasaki; Françoise Delcelier-Douchin; Michel Le Du; Jean-Michel Mesnager; Alice Pradines; Graziella Branduardi-Raymont; Mauro Dadina; Alexis Finoguenov; Yasushi Fukazawa; Agnieszka Janiuk; Jon Miller; Yaël Nazé; Fabrizio Nicastro; Salvatore Sciortino; Jose Miguel Torrejon; Hervé Geoffray; Isabelle Hernandez; Laure Luno; Philippe Peille; Jérôme André; Christophe Daniel; Christophe Etcheverry; Emilie Gloaguen; Jérémie Hassin; Gilles Hervet; Irwin Maussang; Jérôme Moueza; Alexis Paillet; Bruno Vella; Gonzalo Campos Garrido; Jean-Charles Damery; Chantal Panem; Johan Panh; Simon Bandler; Jean-Marc Biffi; Kevin Boyce; Antoine Clénet; Michael DiPirro; Pierre Jamotton; Simone Lotti; Denis Schwander; Stephen Smith; Bert-Joost van Leeuwen; Henk van Weers; Thorsten Brand; Beatriz Cobo; Thomas Dauser; Jelle de Plaa; Edoardo Cucchetti

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X-IFU technical challenge
Author(s): Thien Lam Trong

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Transition-edge sensor pixel parameter design of the microcalorimeter array for the x-ray integral field unit on Athena
Author(s): S. J. Smith; J. S. Adams; S. R. Bandler; G. L. Betancourt-Martinez; J. A. Chervenak; M. P. Chiao; M. E. Eckart; F. M. Finkbeiner; R. L. Kelley; C. A. Kilbourne; A. R. Miniussi; F. S. Porter; J. E. Sadleir; K. Sakai; N. A. Wakeham; E. J. Wassell; W. Yoon; D. A. Bennett; W. B. Doriese; J. W. Fowler; G. C. Hilton; K. M. Morgan; C. G. Pappas; C. N. Reintsema; D. S. Swetz; J. N. Ullom; K. D. Irwin; H. Akamatsu; L. Gottardi; R. den Hartog; B. D. Jackson; J. van der Kuur; D. Barret; P. Peille

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The focal plane assembly for the Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit instrument
Author(s): B. D. Jackson; H. van Weers; J. van der Kuur; R. den Hartog; H. Akamatsu; A. Argan; S. R. Bandler; M. Barbera; D. Barret; M. P. Bruijn; J. A. Chervenak; J. Dercksen; F. Gatti; L. Gottardi; D. Haas; J.-W. den Herder; C. A. Kilbourne; M. Kiviranta; T. Lam-Trong; B.-J. van Leeuwen; C. Macculi; L. Piro; S. J. Smith

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Preliminary thermal architecture of the X-IFU instrument dewar
Author(s): Ivan Charles; Christophe Daniel; Jérome André; Lionel Duband; Jean-Marc Duval; Roland den Hartog; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Keisuke Shinozaki; Henk van Weers; Noriko Y. Yamasaki

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The Cryogenic AntiCoincidence detector for ATHENA X-IFU: a program overview
Author(s): C. Macculi; A. Argan; M. D'Andrea; S. Lotti; M. Laurenza; L. Piro; M. Biasotti; D. Corsini; F. Gatti; G. Torrioli; M. Fiorini; S. Molendi; M. Uslenghi; T. Mineo; A. Bulgarelli; V. Fioretti; E. Cavazzuti

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The ATHENA observatory is the second large-class ESA mission, in the context of the Cosmic Vision 2015 - 2025, scheduled to be launched on 2028 at L2 orbit. One of the two on-board instruments is the X-IFU (X-ray Integral Field Unit): it is a TES-based kilo-pixels order array able to perform simultaneous high-grade energy spectroscopy (2.5 eV at 6 keV) and imaging over the 5 arcmin FoV. The X-IFU sensitivity is degraded by the particles background which is induced by primary protons of both solar and Cosmic Rays origin, and secondary electrons. The studies performed by Geant4 simulations depict a scenario where it is mandatory the use of reduction techniques that combine an active anticoincidence detector and a passive electron shielding to reduce the background expected in L2 orbit down to the goal level of 0.005 cts/cm²/s/keV, so enabling the characterization of faint or diffuse sources (e.g. WHIM or Galaxy cluster outskirts). From the detector point of view this is possible by adopting a Cryogenic AntiCoincidence (CryoAC) placed within a proper optimized environment surrounding the X-IFU TES array. It is a 4-pixels detector made of wide area Silicon absorbers sensed by Ir TESes, and put at a distance < 1 mm below the TES-array. On October 2015 the X-IFU Phase A program has been kicked-off, and about the CryoAC is at present foreseen on early 2017 the delivery of the DM1 (Demonstration Model 1) to the FPA development team for integration, which is made of 1 pixel “bridgessuspended” that will address the final design of the CryoAC. Both the background studies and the detector development work is on-going to provide confident results about the expected residual background at the TES-array level, and the single pixel design to produce a detector for testing activity on 2016/2017. Here we will provide an overview of the CryoAC program, discussing some details about the background assessment having impact on the CryoAC design, the last single pixel characterization, the structural issues, followed by some programmatic aspects.

MeV gamma-ray observation with a well-defined point spread function based on electron tracking
Author(s): A. Takada; T. Tanimori; H. Kubo; T. Mizumoto; Y. Mizumura; S. Komura; T. Kishimoto; T. Takemura; K. Yoshikawa; Y. Nakamasu; Y. Matsuoka; M. Oda; S. Miyamoto; S. Sonoda; D. Tomono; K. Miuchi; S. Kurosawa; T. Sawano

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The e-ASTROGAM gamma-ray space mission
Author(s): V. Tatischeff; M. Tavani; P. von Ballmoos; L. Hanlon; U. Oberlack; A. Aboudan; A. Argan; D. Bernard; A. Brogna; A. Bulgarelli; A. Bykov; R. Campana; P. Caraveo; M. Cardillo; P. Coppi; A. De Angelis; R. Diehl; I. Donnarumma; V. Fioretti; A. Giuliani; I. Grenier; J. E. Grove; C. Hamadache; D. Hartmann; M. Hernanz; J. Isern; G. Kanbach; J. Kiener; J. Knödlseder; C. Labanti; P. Laurent; O. Limousin; F. Longo; M. Marisaldi; S. McBreen; J. E. McEnery; S. Mereghetti; F. Mirabel; A. Morselli; K. Nakazawa; J. Peyré; G. Piano; C. Pittori; S. Sabatini; L. Stawarz; D. J. Thompson; A. Ulyanov; R. Walter; X. Wu; A. Zdziarski; A. Zoglauer

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The development of a low energy Compton imager for GRB polarization studies
Author(s): Mark L. McConnell; Peter F. Bloser; Jason S. Legere; James M. Ryan

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Performance study of the gamma-ray bursts polarimeter POLAR
Author(s): J. C. Sun; B. B. Wu; T. W. Bao; T. Batsch; T. Bernasconi; I. Britvitch; F. Cadoux; I. Cernuda; J. Y. Chai; Y. W. Dong; N. Gauvin; W. Hajdas; J. J. He; M. Kole; M. N. Kong; S. W. Kong; C. Lechanoine-Leluc; Lu Li; J. T. Liu; X. Liu; R. Marcinkowski; S. Orsi; M. Pohl; N. Produit; D. Rapin; A. Rutczynska; D. Rybka; H. L. Shi; L. M. Song; J. Szabelski; R. J. Wang; X. Wen; H. L. Xiao; S. L. Xiong; H. H. Xu; M. Xu; L. Zhang; L. Y. Zhang; S. N. Zhang; X. F. Zhang; Y. J. Zhang; A. Zwolinska

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First flight of the Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter for Solar flares (GRIPS) instrument
Author(s): Nicole Duncan; P. Saint-Hilaire; A. Y. Shih; G. J. Hurford; H. M. Bain; M. Amman; B. A. Mochizuki; J. Hoberman; J. Olson; B. A. Maruca; N. M. Godbole; D. M. Smith; J. Sample; N. A. Kelley; A. Zoglauer; A. Caspi; P. Kaufmann; S. Boggs; R. P. Lin

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The Gamma-Ray Imager/Polarimeter for Solar flares (GRIPS) instrument is a balloon-borne telescope designed to study solar- are particle acceleration and transport. We describe GRIPS's first Antarctic long-duration flight in January 2016 and report preliminary calibration and science results. Electron and ion dynamics, particle abundances and the ambient plasma conditions in solar flares can be understood by examining hard X-ray (HXR) and gamma-ray emission (20 keV to 10 MeV). Enhanced imaging, spectroscopy and polarimetry of are emissions in this energy range are needed to study particle acceleration and transport questions. The GRIPS instrument is specifically designed to answer questions including: What causes the spatial separation between energetic electrons producing hard X-rays and energetic ions producing gamma-ray lines? How anisotropic are the relativistic electrons, and why can they dominate in the corona? How do the compositions of accelerated and ambient material vary with space and time, and why? GRIPS's key technological improvements over the current solar state of the art at HXR/gamma-ray energies, the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI), include 3D position-sensitive germanium detectors (3D-GeDs) and a single-grid modulation collimator, the multi-pitch rotating modulator (MPRM). The 3D-GeDs have spectral FWHM resolution of a few hundred keV and spatial resolution <1 mm³. For photons that Compton scatter, usually ⪆150 keV, the energy deposition sites can be tracked, providing polarization measurements as well as enhanced background reduction through Compton imaging. Each of GRIPS's detectors has 298 electrode strips read out with ASIC/FPGA electronics. In GRIPS's energy range, indirect imaging methods provide higher resolution than focusing optics or Compton imaging techniques. The MPRM gridimaging system has a single-grid design which provides twice the throughput of a bi-grid imaging system like RHESSI. The grid is composed of 2.5 cm deep tungsten-copper slats, and quasi-continuous FWHM angular coverage from 12.5-162 arcsecs are achieved by varying the slit pitch between 1-13 mm. This angular resolution is capable of imaging the separate magnetic loop footpoint emissions in a variety of are sizes. In comparison, RHESSI's 35-arcsec resolution at similar energies makes the footpoints resolvable in only the largest ares.

First measurement of the polarisation asymmetry of a gamma-ray beam between 1.7 to 74 MeV with the HARPO TPC
Author(s): P. Gros; S. Amano; D. Attié; D. Bernard; P. Bruel; D. Calvet; P. Colas; S. Daté; A. Delbart; M. Frotin; Y. Geerebaert; B. Giebels; D. Götz; S. Hashimoto; D. Horan; T. Kotaka; Marc Louzir; Y. Minamiyama; S. Miyamoto; H. Ohkuma; Patrick Poilleux; I. Semeniouk; P. Sizun; A. Takemoto; M. Yamaguchi; S. Wang

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Correcting for errors due to walk and geometric distortion in the COS FUV detector
Author(s): David J. Sahnow; Steven Penton; Thomas Ake; Gisella DeRosa; Justin Ely; Sean Lockwood; Cristina Oliveira; Rachel Plesha; Charles Proffitt; Julia Roman-Duval; Paule Sonnentrucker; Joanna Taylor; James White

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In-flight performance of the polarization modulator in the CLASP rocket experiment
Author(s): Shin-nosuke Ishikawa; Toshifumi Shimizu; Ryohei Kano; Takamasa Bando; Ryoko Ishikawa; Gabriel Giono; Dyana L. Beabout; Brent L. Beabout; Satoshi Nakayama; Takao Tajima

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The re-flight of the Colorado high-resolution Echelle stellar spectrograph (CHESS): improvements, calibrations, and post-flight results
Author(s): Keri Hoadley; Kevin France; Nicholas Kruczek; Brian Fleming; Nicholas Nell; Robert Kane; Jack Swanson; James Green; Nicholas Erickson; Jacob Wilson

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Alignment and calibration of the ICON-FUV instrument: development of a vacuum UV facility
Author(s): Jerome Loicq; Pascal Blain; Christian Kintziger; Richard Desselle; Yvan Stockman; Isabelle Domken; Etienne Renotte; Lionel Clermont; Kodi Rider; Cathy Chou; Claire Poppett; Harald U. Frey; Stephen B. Mende

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The qualification campaign of the EUI instrument of Solar Orbiter
Author(s): J.-P. Halain; P. Rochus; E. Renotte; A. Hermans; L. Jacques; A. Mazzoli; F. Auchère; D. Berghmans; L. Harra; U. Schühle; W. Schmutz; R. Aznar Cuadrado; C. Dumesnil; M. Gyo; T. Kennedy; C. Verbeeck; P. Smith

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Full-Stokes polychromatic polarimeter design for Arago
Author(s): Martin Pertenais; Coralie Neiner; Pascal Petit

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UVESP: ultraviolet visible Echellé spectropolarimeter for stellar astrophysics
Author(s): Maxim Yushkin; Vladimir Panchuk; Belén Perea Abarca; Pablo Marcos-Arenal; Mikhail Sachkov; Ana I. Gómez de Castro

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Simulations of the WUVS instrument
Author(s): Pablo Marcos-Arenal; Ana I. Gómez de Castro; Belén Perea Abarca; Mikhail Sachkov

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Fireball multi object spectrograph: as-built optic performances
Author(s): R. Grange; B. Milliard; G. Lemaitre; S. Quiret; S. Pascal; A. Origné; E. Hamden; D. Schiminovich

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An ultraviolet imager to study bright UV sources
Author(s): Joice Mathew; Ajin Prakash; Mayuresh Sarpotdar; A. G. Sreejith; Margarita Safonova; Jayant Murthy

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A near ultraviolet solar-blind telescope design using silicon CCD detectors
Author(s): John W. MacKenty

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Concept study for a compact homodyne astrophysics spectrometer for exoplanets (CHASE)
Author(s): Sona Hosseini; Chris Webster; Debra Fischer; Evgenya Shkolnik; Shouleh Nikzad; Gautam Vasisht; Wesley Traub

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Numerical simulation of space UV spectrographs
Author(s): Maksim Yushkin; Timur Fatkhullin; Vladimir Panchuk; Mikhail Sachkov; Evgeny Kanev

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WSO-UV ground segment for observation optimisation
Author(s): O. Basargina; M. Sachkov; Y. Kazakevich; E. Kanev; S. Sichevskij

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Optical design of WUVS instrument: WSO-UV spectrographs
Author(s): Mikhail Sachkov; Vladimir Panchuk; Maxim Yushkin; Timur Fatkhullin

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Design of a wide field far-UV spectrometer for a mission to Mars
Author(s): Edward Wishnow; Tim Miller; Matthew Fillingim; Jerry Edelstein; Robert Lillis; Eric Korpela; Scott England; William Van Shourt; Oswald Siegmund; Jason McPhate; Sasha Courtade; David Curtis; Justin Deighan; Michael Chaffin; Abdullah Saif Harmoul; Hessa Rashid Al Matroushi

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Near UV imager with an MCP-based photon counting detector
Author(s): S. Ambily; Joice Mathew; Mayuresh Sarpotdar; A. G. Sreejith; K. Nirmal; Ajin Prakash; Margarita Safonova; Jayant Murthy

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Spectral calibration of CCDs and multilayer filters intended for future space applications
Author(s): Eugene A. Vishnyakov; Alexey S. Kirichenko; Anton A. Reva; Artem A. Rizvanov; Jurii A. Plastinin; Sergei V. Kuzin

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A technique for selectable band imaging in the ultraviolet and optical
Author(s): James C. Green; Kevin France

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Optical alignment of the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha Spectro-Polarimeter using sophisticated methods to minimize activities under vacuum
Author(s): G. Giono; Y. Katsukawa; R. Ishikawa; N. Narukage; R. Kano; M. Kubo; S. Ishikawa; T. Bando; H. Hara; Y. Suematsu; A. Winebarger; K. Kobayashi; F. Auchère; J. Trujillo Bueno

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An optimized Fresnel array for a test space mission in UV
Author(s): W. Roux; L. Koechlin

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The Fresnel Diffractive Imager is based on a new optical concept for space telescopes, developed at Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP) in Toulouse, France. We propose it for space missions dedicated to science cases in the Ultra-Violet with aperture ranges from 6 to 30 meters. Instead of a classical mirror to focus light, this concept uses very light-weight diffractive optics : the Fresnel array. Our project has already proved its performances in terms of resolution and high dynamic range in the laboratory, in the visible and near IR. It has been tested successfully on real astrophysical sources from the ground.

At present, the project has reached the stage where a probatory mission is needed to validate its operation in space. In collaboration with institutes in Spain and Russia, we will propose a mission to the Russian space agency Roscosmos, to board a small prototype Fresnel imager on the International Space Station (ISS) for a UV astronomy program.

We have improved the Fresnel array design to get a better Point Spread Function (PSF), 2 different ways. Numerical simulations have first allowed us to confirm these optical improvements, before manufacturing the diffractive optics and using them for new lab tests.

In our previous setups, the opaque Fresnel zones in the primary Fresnel array (playing the role of the telescope objective) were maintained with an orthogonal bars mesh, following the pseudo-period of the Fresnel zones. We show that the PSF improves when these bars are regularly spaced. Furthermore, the optical system is apodized to get a better peaked PSF, and increase its high contrast performances.

In our case, to apodize a binary mask the solution is to modulate the Fresnel zones in relative thickness ratio (opaque versus void), thus driving the local light transmission ratio. In earlier implementations, our Fresnel arrays were apodized with a circularly symmetric law, but an orthogonal apodization law is more efficient. That is why we are developing this particular type of apodized square aperture Fresnel arrays.

Development of a flight qualified 100 x 100 mm MCP UV detector using advanced cross strip anodes and associated ASIC electronics
Author(s): John Vallerga; Jason McPhate; Anton Tremsin; Oswald Siegmund; Rick Raffanti; Harley Cumming; Andrej Seljak; Vihtori Virta; Gary Varner

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Photon counting microchannel plate (MCP) imagers have been the detector of choice for most UV astronomical missions over the last three decades (e.g. EUVE, FUSE, COS on Hubble etc.) and been mentioned for instruments on future large telescopes in space such as LUVOIR¹⁴. Using cross strip anodes, improvements in the MCP laboratory readout technology have resulted in better spatial resolution (x10), temporal resolution (x 1000) and output event rate (x100), all the while operating at lower gain (x10) resulting in lower high voltage requirements and longer MCP lifetimes.

A crossed strip anode MCP readout starts with a set of orthogonal conducting strips (e.g. 80 x 80), typically spaced at a 635 micron pitch onto which charge clouds from MCP amplified events land. Each strip has its own charge sensitive amplifier that is sampled continuously by a dedicated analog to digital converter (ADC). All of the ADC digital output lines are fed into a field programmable gate array (FGPA) which can detect charge events landing on the strips, measure the peak amplitudes of those charge events and calculate their spatial centroid along with their time of arrival (X,Y,T) and pass this information to a downstream computer.

Laboratory versions of these electronics have demonstrated < 20 microns FWHM spatial resolution, count rates on the order of 2 MHz, and temporal resolution of ~ 1ns. In 2012 our group at U.C. Berkeley, along with our partners at the U. Hawaii, received a NASA Strategic Astrophysics Technology (SAT) grant to raise the TRL of a cross strip detector from 4 to 6 by replacing most of the 19" rack mounted, high powered electronics with application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) which will lower the power, mass, and volume requirements of the detector electronics. We were also tasked to design and fabricate a "standard" 50mm square active area MCP detector incorporating these electronics that can be environmentally qualified for flight (temperature, vacuum, vibration).

ASICs designed for this program have been successfully fabricated and are undergoing extensive testing. We will present the latest progress on these ASIC designs and their performance. We will also show our preliminary work on scaling these designs (detector and electronics) to a flight qualified 100 x 100 mm cross strip detector, which has recently been funded through a follow on SAT grant.

Ultraviolet detector with CMOS-coupled microchannel plates for future space missions
Author(s): Go Murakami; Masaki Kuwabara; Kazuo Yoshioka; Reina Hikida; Fumiharu Suzuki; Ichiro Yoshikawa

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Optical and structural characterization of reflective quarter wave plates for EUV range
Author(s): A. E. H. Gaballah; P. Zuppella; A. J. Corso; P. Nicolosi

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Design and improvements of the Attitude Control System of the FIREBall balloon experiment
Author(s): Johan Montel; Frédéri Mirc; Etienne Pérot; Isabelle Zenone; Jean-Marc Nicot; Nicolas Bray; Albert Gomes; Jean Evrard; Pierre Tapie; Pascal Vola; Bruno Milliard; Robert Grange; David Schiminovich

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The effects of dust outbursts on the anomalistic features observed by Rosetta Alice around 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Author(s): John Noonan; Eric Schindhelm; Joel Wm. Parker; Andrew Steffl; Michael Davis; S. Alan Stern; Zuni Levin; Sascha Kempf; Mihaly Horyani

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The design, implementation, and performance of the Atro-H SXS calorimeter array and anti-coincidence detector
Author(s): Caroline A. Kilbourne; Joseph S. Adams; Regis P. Brekosky; James A. Chervenak; Meng P. Chiao; Megan E. Eckart; Enectali Figueroa-Feliciano; Massimiliano Galeazzi; Christoph Grein; Christine A. Jhabvala; Richard L. Kelley; Daniel P. Kelly; Maurice A. Leutenegger; Dan McCammon; F. Scott Porter; Andrew E. Szymkowiak; Tomomi Watanabe; Jun Zhao

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System design and implementation of the detector assembly for the Astro-H soft x-ray spectrometer
Author(s): M. P. Chiao; J. Adams; P. Goodwin; C. W. Hobson; R. L. Kelley; C. A. Kilbourne; D. McCammon; D. S. McGuinness; S. J. Moseley; F. S. Porter; S. Shuman; T. Watanabe

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Cryogen-free operation of the Soft X-ray Spectrometer instrument
Author(s): Gary A. Sneiderman; Peter J. Shirron; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Thomas G. Bialas; Kevin R. Boyce; Meng P. Chiao; Michael J. DiPirro; Megan E. Eckart; Leslie Hartz; Yoshitaka Ishisaki; Richard L. Kelley; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Candace Masters; Dan McCammon; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Hirofumi Noda; Frederick S. Porter; Andrew E. Szymkowiak; Yoh Takei; Masahiro Tsujimoto; Seiji Yoshida

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Design and on-orbit operation of the adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator on the Hitomi Soft X-ray Spectrometer instrument
Author(s): Peter J. Shirron; Mark O. Kimball; Bryan L. James; Theodore Muench; Edgar R. Canavan; Michael J. DiPirro; Thomas G. Bialas; Gary A. Sneiderman; Kevin R. Boyce; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Frederick S. Porter; Richard L. Kelley; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Yoh Takei; Seiji Yoshida; Kazuhisa Mitsuda

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Porous plug phase separator and superfluid film flow suppression system for the soft x-ray spectrometer onboard ASTRO-H
Author(s): Yuichiro Ezoe; Kumi Ishikawa; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Takaya Ohashi; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Masahide Murakami; Kenichi Kanao; Seiji Yoshida; Shoji Tsunematsu; Michael DiPirro; Peter Shirron

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The design, implementation, and performance of the Astro-H SXS aperture assembly and blocking filters
Author(s): Caroline A. Kilbourne; Joseph S. Adams; Petar Arsenovic; Travis Ayers; Meng P. Chiao; Michael J. Dipirro; Megan E. Eckart; Ryuichi Fujimoto; John D. Kazeva; Richard L. Kelley; Kari L. Kripps; Bruce Lairson; Maurice A. Leutenegger; Heidi Lopez; Dan McCammon; Daniel S. McGuinness; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Samuel J. Moseley; F. Scott Porter; Andrea N. Schweiss; Yoh Takei; Rosemary S. Thorpe; Tomomi Watanabe; Noriko Y. Yamasaki; Seiji Yoshida

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Thermal analyses for initial operations of the Soft X-Ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard ASTRO-H
Author(s): Hirofumi Noda; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Atsushi Okamoto; Yuichiro Ezoe; Kumi Ishikawa; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Noriko Yamasaki; Yoh Takei; Takaya Ohashi; Yoshitaka Ishisaki; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Seiji Yoshida; Michael DiPirro; Peter Shirron

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Performance of the helium dewar and cryocoolers of ASTRO-H SXS
Author(s): Ryuichi Fujimoto; Yoh Takei; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Noriko Y. Yamasaki; Masahiro Tsujimoto; Shu Koyama; Kumi Ishikawa; Hiroyuki Sugita; Yoichi Sato; Keisuke Shinozaki; Atsushi Okamoto; Shunji Kitamoto; Akio Hoshino; Kosuke Sato; Yuichiro Ezoe; Yoshitaka Ishisaki; Shinya Yamada; Hiromi Seta; Takaya Ohashi; Toru Tamagawa; Hirofumi Noda; Makoto Sawada; Makoto Tashiro; Yoichi Yatsu; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Kenichi Kanao; Seiji Yoshida; Mikio Miyaoka; Shoji Tsunematsu; Kiyomi Otsuka; Katsuhiro Narasaki; Michael J. DiPirro; Peter J. Shirron; Gary A. Sneiderman; Caroline A. Kilbourne; F. Scott Porter; Meng P. Chiao; Megan E. Eckart; Richard L. Kelley

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In-flight performance of pulse processing system of the ASTRO-H soft x-ray spectrometer
Author(s): Yoshitaka Ishisaki; Shinya Yamada; Hiromi Seta; Makoto S. Tashiro; Sawako Takeda; Yukikatsu Terada; Yuka Kato; Masahiro Tsujimoto; Shu Koyama; Kazuhisa MItsuda; Makoto Sawada; Kevin R. Boyce; Meng P. Chiao; Tomomi Watanabe; Maurice A. Leutenegger; Megan E. Eckart; F. Scott Porter; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Richard L. Kelley

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In-flight verification of the calibration and performance of the ASTRO-H (Hitomi) Soft X-Ray Spectrometer
Author(s): Maurice A. Leutenegger; Marc Audard; Kevin R. Boyce; Gregory V. Brown; Meng P. Chiao; Megan E. Eckart; Ryuichi Fujimoto; Akihiro Furuzawa; Matteo Guainazzi; Daniel Haas; Jan-Willem den Herder; Takayuki Hayashi; Ryo Iizuka; Manabu Ishida; Yoshitaka Ishisaki; Richard L. Kelley; Naomichi Kikuchi; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Shu Koyama; Sho Kurashima; Yoshitomo Maeda; Maxim Markevitch; Dan McCammon; Kazuhisa Mitsuda; Hideyuki Mori; Nozomi Nakaniwa; Takashi Okajima; Stéphane Paltani; Robert Petre; F. Scott Porter; Kosuke Sato; Toshiki Sato; Makoto Sawada; Peter J. Serlemitsos; Hiromi Seta; Gary Sneiderman; Yang Soong; Satoshi Sugita; Andrew E. Szymkowiak; Yoh Takei; Makoto Tashiro; Yuzuru Tawara; Masahiro Tsujimoto; Cor P. de Vries; Tomomi Watanabe; Shinya Yamada; Noriko Yamasaki

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Ground calibration of the Astro-H (Hitomi) soft x-ray spectrometer
Author(s): M. E. Eckart; J. S. Adams; K. R. Boyce; G. V. Brown; M. P. Chiao; R. Fujimoto; D. Haas; J. W. den Herder; Y. Ishisaki; R. L. Kelley; C. A. Kilbourne; M. A. Leutenegger; D. McCammon; K. Mitsuda; F. S. Porter; K. Sato; M. Sawada; H. Seta; G. A. Sneiderman; A. E. Szymkowiak; Y. Takei; M. Tashiro; M. Tsujimoto; C. P. de Vries; T. Watanabe; S. Yamada; N. Y. Yamasaki

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The ASTRO-H SXT performance to the large off-set angles
Author(s): Toshiki Sato; Ryo Iizuka; Hideyuki Mori; Takayuki Hayashi; Yoshitomo Maeda; Manabu Ishida; Naomichi Kikuchi; Sho Kurashima; Nozomi Nakaniwa; Takashi Okajima; Yang Soong; Peter J. Serlemitsos

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The X-ray astronomy satellite ASTRO-H, which is the 6th Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite and is renamed Hitomi after launch, is designed to observe celestial X-ray objects in a wide energy band from a few hundred eV to 600 keV. The Soft X-ray Telescopes (SXTs) onboard ASTRO-H play a role of collecting and imaging X-rays up to ~ 12 keV. Although the field of view of the SXT is ~150' (FWHM), due to the thin-foil-nested Wolter-I type optics adopted in the SXTs, X-rays out of the field of view can reach the focal plane without experiencing a normal double reflection. This component is referred to as "stray light". Owing to investigation of the stray light so far, "secondary reflection" is now identified as the main component of the stray light, which is composed of X-rays reflected only by secondary reflectors. In order to cut the secondary reflections, a "pre-collimator" is equipped on top of the SXTs. However, we cannot cut all the stray lights with the pre-collimator in some off-axis angle domain. In this study, we measure the brightness of the stray light of the SXTs at some representative off-axis angles by using the ISAS X-ray beam line.

ASTRO-H is equipped with two modules of the SXT; one is for the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS), an X-ray calorimeter, and the other is for the Soft X-ray Imager (SXI), an X-ray CCD camera. These SXT modules are called SXT-S and SXT-I, respectively. Of the two detector systems, the SXI has a large field of view, a square with 38' on a side. To cope with this, we have made a mosaic mapping of the stray light at a representative off-axis angle of 30' in the X-ray beam line at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The effective area of the brightest secondary reflection is found of order 0.1% of the on-axis effective area at the energy of 1.49 keV. The other components are not so bright (<5 X 10^-4 times smaller than the on-axis effective area). On the other hand, we have found that the effective area of the stray light in the SXS field of view (~3'x3') at large off-axis angles (>15') are ~10^-4 times smaller than the on-axis effective area (~590 cm² at 1.49 keV).

Reflectivity around the gold M-edges of x-ray reflector of the Soft X-ray Telescope onboard ASTRO-H
Author(s): Sho Kurashima; Akihiro Furuzawa; Toshiki Sato; Naomichi Kikuchi; Nozomi Nakaniwa; Yoshitomo Maeda; Manabu Ishida; Ryo Iizuka; Takashi Okajima; Hideyuki Mori; Hironori Matsumoto; Keisuke Tamura; Kazunori Ishibashi; Takayuki Hayashi; Takuya Miyazawa; Masato Maejima; Shun Yoshikawa

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Reflectivity around the gold L-edges of x-ray reflector of the soft x-ray telescope onboard ASTRO-H
Author(s): Yoshitomo Maeda; Naomichi Kikuchi; Sho Kurashima; Manabu Ishida; Ryo Iizuka; Takayuki Hayashi; Takashi Okajima; Hironori Matsumoto; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Shigetaka Saji; Toshiki Sato; Sasagu Tachibana; Hideyuki Mori; Finn Christensen; Nicolai Brejnholt; Kiyofumi Nitta; Tomoya Uruga

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Ray-tracing simulation and in-orbit performance of the ASTRO-H hard x-ray telescope (HXT)
Author(s): H. Matsumoto; H. Awaki; A. Furuzawa; M. Ishida; H. Kunieda; Y. Haba; T. Hayashi; R. Iizuka; K. Ishibashi; M. Itoh; T. Kosaka; Y. Maeda; I. Mitsuishi; T. Miyazawa; H. Mori; H. Nagano; Y. Namba; Y. Ogasaka; K. Ogi; T. Okajima; S. Sugita; Y. Suzuki; K. Tamura; Y. Tawara; K. Uesugi; S. Yamauchi

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A laboratory test setup to study the stability of operation of the CdTe detectors within Astro-H HXI
Author(s): Daniel Maier; Benoit Horeau; Philippe Laurent; Olivier Limousin; Diana Renaud

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The evolution of the ACIS contamination layer over the 16-year mission of the Chandra X-ray Observatory
Author(s): Paul P. Plucinsky; Akos Bogdan; Gregg Germain; Herman L. Marshall

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Evolution of temperature-dependent charge transfer inefficiency correction for ACIS on the Chandra X-ray Observatory
Author(s): Catherine E. Grant; Marshall W. Bautz; R. Nick Durham; Paul P. Plucinsky

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Front-end readout ASIC for charged particle counting with the RADEM instrument on the ESA JUICE mission
Author(s): Timo A. Stein; Philip Påhlsson; Dirk Meier; Amir Hasanbegovic; Hans Kristian Otnes Berge; Mehmet Akif Altan; Jörg Ackermann; Bahram Najafiuchevler; Suleyman Azman; Jahanzad Talebi; Alf Olsen; Codin Gheorghe; David Steenari; Petter Øya; Tor Magnus Johansen; Gunnar Maehlum

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Developments in calibration of EUV and VUV detectors for solar orbiter instrumentation using synchrotron radiation
Author(s): Thomas Reichel; Alexander Gottwald; Udo Kroth; Christian Laubis; Frank Scholze

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Development of a pixelated CdTe detector module for a hard-x and gamma-ray imaging spectrometer application
Author(s): J.-L. Galvèz; M. Hernanz; L. Álvarez; B. Artigues; J.-M. Álvarez; M. Ullán; M. Lozano; G. Pellegrini; E. Cabruja; R. Martínez; M. Chmeissani; C. Puigdengoles

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Directly-deposited blocking filters for high-performance silicon x-ray detectors
Author(s): M. Bautz; S. Kissel; R. Masterson; K. Ryu; V. Suntharalingam

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Line profile modelling for multi-pixel CZT detectors
Author(s): T. Chattopadhyay; S. V. Vadawale; A. R. Rao; D. Bhattacharya; Mithun N. P. S.; V. Bhalerao

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Performance of the Gas Pixel Detector: an x-ray imaging polarimeter for upcoming missions of astrophysics
Author(s): Fabio Muleri; Paolo Soffitta; Luca Baldini; Ronaldo Bellazzini; Alessandro Brez; Enrico Costa; Niccolò Di Lalla; Ettore Del Monte; Yuri Evangelista; Luca Latronico; Alberto Manfreda; Massimo Minuti; Melissa Pesce-Rollins; Michele Pinchera; Alda Rubini; Carmelo Sgrò; Francesca Spada; Gloria Spandre

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The on-board calibration system of the X-ray Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE)
Author(s): Silvia Zane; Berend Winter; Craig Theobalds; Theodorus Theodorou; Michele Pinchera; Fabio Muleri; Francesca Spada; Carmelo Sgro; Davide Zanetti; Hua Feng; Ettore del Monte; Alda Rubini; Paolo Soffitta; Ronaldo Bellazzini; Enrico Bozzo; Vadim Burwitz; Alberto J. Castro Tirado; Enrico Costa; Szymon Gburek; Rene Goosmann; Vladimir Karas; Giorgio Matt; Kirpal Nandra; Mark Pearce; Juri Poutanen; Victor Reglero; Maria Dolores Sabau; Andrea Santangelo; Giampiero Tagliaferri; Christopher Tenzer; Jacco Vink; Martin Weisskopf

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Geometrical tools for the analysis of x-ray polarimetric signals
Author(s): E. Massaro; E. Del Monte; F. Massa; R. Campana; F. Muleri; P. Soffitta; E. Costa

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The microchannel x-ray telescope status
Author(s): D. Götz; A. Meuris; F. Pinsard; E. Doumayrou; T. Tourrette; J. P. Osborne; R. Willingale; J. M. Sykes; J. F. Pearson; J. M. Le Duigou; K. Mercier

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Arcus: the x-ray grating spectrometer explorer
Author(s): R. K. Smith; M. H. Abraham; R. Allured; M. Bautz; J. Bookbinder; J. N. Bregman; L. Brenneman; N. S. Brickhouse; D. N. Burrows; V. Burwitz; R. Carvalho; P. N. Cheimets; E. Costantini; S. Dawson; C. DeRoo; A. Falcone; A. R. Foster; C. E. Grant; R. K. Heilmann; E. Hertz; B. Hine III; D. Huenemoerder; J. S. Kaastra; K. K. Madsen; R. L. McEntaffer; E. D. Miller; J. Miller; E. Morse; R. Mushotzky; K. Nandra; M. Nowak; F. Paerels; R. Petre; L. Plice; K. Poppenhaeger; A. Ptak; P. Reid; J. Sanders; M. L. Schattenburg; N. Schulz; A. Smale; P. Temi; L. Valencic; S. Walker; R. Willingale; J. Wilms; S. J. Wolk

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Multi-directional measurements of high energy particles from the Sun-Earth L1 point with STEPS
Author(s): S. K. Goyal; M. Shanmugam; A. R. Patel; T. Ladiya; Neeraj K. Tiwari; S. B. Banerjee; S. V. Vadawale; P. Janardhan; D. Chakrabarty; A. R. Srinivas; P. Shukla; P. Kumar; K. P. Subramanian; B. Bapat; P. R. Adhyaru

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Optical design considerations and raytracing results for the Arcus grating spectrometer concept
Author(s): Ryan Allured; Randall L. McEntaffer; Edward Hertz; Peter N. Cheimets; Randall K. Smith

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The evolution of structure and feedback with Arcus
Author(s): Laura W. Brenneman; Randall K. Smith; J. Bregman; J. Kaastra; N. Brickhouse; R. Allured; A. Foster; S. Wolk; J. Wilms; L. Valencic; R. Willingale; C. Grant; M. Bautz; R. Heilmann; D. Huenemoerder; E. Miller; M. Nowak; M. Schattenburg; N. Schulz; V. Burwitz; K. Nandra; J. Sanders; J. Bookbinder; R. Petre; A. Ptak; A. Smale; D. Burrows; K. Poppenhaeger; E. Costantini; C. DeRoo; R. McEntaffer; R. Mushotzky; J. M. Miller; P. Temi

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Status of the micro-X sounding rocket x-ray spectrometer
Author(s): D. C. Goldfinger; J. S. Adams; R. Baker; S. R. Bandler; M. E. Danowski; W. B. Doriese; M. E. Eckart; E. Figueroa-Feliciano; G. C. Hilton; A. J. F. Hubbard; R. L. Kelley; C. A. Kilbourne; D. McCammon; T. Okajima; F. S. Porter; C. D. Reintsema; P. Serlemitsos; S. J. Smith; S. N. T. Heine; P. Wikus

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Fast simulation of the NICER instrument
Author(s): John P. Doty; Matthew P. Wampler-Doty; Gregory Y. Prigozhin; Takashi Okajima; Zaven Arzoumanian; Keith Gendreau

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Ground calibration of the Silicon Drift Detectors for NICER
Author(s): Beverly LaMarr; Gregory Prigozhin; Ronald Remillard; Andrew Malonis; Keith C. Gendreau; Zaven Arzoumanian; Craig B. Markwardt; Wayne H. Baumgartner

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Performance of NICER flight x-ray concentrator
Author(s): Takashi Okajima; Yang Soong; Erin R. Balsamo; Teruaki Enoto; Larry Olsen; Richard Koenecke; Larry Lozipone; John Kearney; Sean Fitzsimmons; Ai Numata; Steven J. Kenyon; Zaven Arzoumanian; Keith Gendreau

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Large Observatory for x-ray Timing (LOFT-P): a Probe-class mission concept study
Author(s): Colleen A. Wilson-Hodge; Paul S. Ray; Deepto Chakrabarty; Marco Feroci; Laura Alvarez; Michael Baysinger; Chris Becker; Enrico Bozzo; Soren Brandt; Billy Carson; Jack Chapman; Alexandra Dominguez; Leo Fabisinski; Bert Gangl; Jay Garcia; Christopher Griffith; Margarita Hernanz; Robert Hickman; Randall Hopkins; Michelle Hui; Luster Ingram; Peter Jenke; Seppo Korpela; Tom Maccarone; Malgorzata Michalska; Martin Pohl; Andrea Santangelo; Stephane Schanne; Andrew Schnell; Luigi Stella; Michiel van der Klis; Anna Watts; Berend Winter; Silvia Zane

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LOFT-P is a mission concept for a NASA Astrophysics Probe-Class (<$1B) X-ray timing mission, based on the LOFT M-class concept originally proposed to ESAs M3 and M4 calls. LOFT-P requires very large collecting area, high time resolution, good spectral resolution, broad-band spectral coverage (2-30 keV), highly flexible scheduling, and an ability to detect and respond promptly to time-critical targets of opportunity. It addresses science questions such as: What is the equation of state of ultra dense matter? What are the effects of strong gravity on matter spiraling into black holes? It would be optimized for sub-millisecond timing of bright Galactic X-ray sources including X-ray bursters, black hole binaries, and magnetars to study phenomena at the natural timescales of neutron star surfaces and black hole event horizons and to measure mass and spin of black holes. These measurements are synergistic to imaging and high-resolution spectroscopy instruments, addressing much smaller distance scales than are possible without very long baseline X-ray interferometry, and using complementary techniques to address the geometry and dynamics of emission regions. LOFT-P would have an effective area of >6 m², > 10x that of the highly successful Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). A sky monitor (2-50 keV) acts as a trigger for pointed observations, providing high duty cycle, high time resolution monitoring of the X-ray sky with ~20 times the sensitivity of the RXTE All-Sky Monitor, enabling multi-wavelength and multimessenger studies. A probe-class mission concept would employ lightweight collimator technology and large-area solid-state detectors, segmented into pixels or strips, technologies which have been recently greatly advanced during the ESA M3 Phase A study of LOFT. Given the large community interested in LOFT (>800 supporters*, the scientific productivity of this mission is expected to be very high, similar to or greater than RXTE (~ 2000 refereed publications). We describe the results of a study, recently completed by the MSFC Advanced Concepts Office, that demonstrates that such a mission is feasible within a NASA probe-class mission budget.

ART-XC/SRG: results of qualification thermo-vacuum tests
Author(s): N. Semena; M. Pavlinsky; M. Buntov; D. Serbinov; V. Levin; V. Tambov; A. Rotin; A. Krivchenko

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ART-XC – a medium-x-ray-energy survey instrument of “Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma” (SRG) project is being developed in Russia under the leadership of the Space Research Institute (IKI). Main requirements to the telescope temperature control system are provided by two key elements – module of seven semiconductor DSSD CdTe detectors which have to operate at the temperature −22.5±2.5 °C to prevent CdTe crystals fast polarization (large polarization time allows to keep detector energy spectral characteristics during continuous 2 – 3 days expositions) and the module of seven mirror systems which have to operate at a temperature 20±2 °C (which is the temperature used in the on Earth mirror systems calibration tests).Thermal control system ART-XC consists of 36 tunable film heaters placed in different places on the telescope structure and controlled according to indications of thermal sensors. The maximum power of each heater is 10 W. There are 21 heaters located on seven mirror systems. Each mirror system case is equipped with two heaters, additional one is located on the mirror system baffle. Seven heaters are placed on detectors. Remaining eight heaters are placed in different telescope parts – one on the protective cover, one on the explosive pin, one under the star tracker, three on the mirror system and star tracker mount plate, one on the detector block mount plate and one on the calibration sources control system block. Thermal control system constantly checks temperature from 36 thermal sensors and regulate the heater’s power supply. There is one passive thermal control element in the telescope – radiator, which is connected to detectors via three heat pipes and cools them down. The QM (qualification model) of ART-XC was manufacture and tested. QM completely corresponds to flight model. Conditions of thermo-vacuum tests were corresponded to real external thermal conditions in flight. The vacuum, cold of space, temperature of mounting planes and shielding by eRosita telescope were reproduced at this test. During the test operating and calibration thermal telescope modes were simulated. Results of the QM thermo-vacuum test are presented in this paper.

Results of ground tests and calibration of x-ray focal plane detectors for ART-XC/SRG instrument
Author(s): Vasily Levin; Mikhail Pavlinsky; Valery Akimov; Maria Kuznetsova; Alexey Rotin; Aleksandr Krivchenko; Igor Lapshov; Vladimir Oleynikov

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An updated approach to the study of proton propagation in the eROSITA mirror system
Author(s): E. Perinati; T. Mineo; M. Freyberg; S. Diebold; A. Santangelo; C. Tenzer

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Laboratory demonstration of the piezoelectric figure correction of a cylindrical slumped glass optic
Author(s): Ryan Allured; Edward Hertz; Vanessa Marquez; Vincenzo Cotroneo; Margeaux Wallace; Bianca Salmaso; Marta M. Civitani; Susan Trolier-McKinstry; Alexey A. Vikhlinin; Giovanni Pareschi; Paul B. Reid

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A performance budget for the x-ray surveyor telescope
Author(s): Jonathan Arenberg; Ryan Allured; Paul Reid

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Ray-tracing critical-angle transmission gratings for the X-ray Surveyor and Explorer-size missions
Author(s): Hans M. Günther; Marshall W. Bautz; Ralf K. Heilmann; David P. Huenemoerder; Herman L. Marshall; Michael A. Nowak; Norbert S. Schulz

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A new type of multiple image x-ray interferometer for arcseconds and sub-arcseconds sources
Author(s): Kiyoshi Hayashida; Hiroyuki Kurubi; Hiroshi Nakajima; Tomoki Kawabata; Shota Inoue; Hiroshi Tsunemi

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Compact hard x-ray imaging system with a large FOV
Author(s): Miho Katsuragawa; Shin'ichiro Takeda; Goro Sato; Atsushi Harayama; Patrick Kenneth Kennedy; Kieran Deasy; Shin Watanabe; Tadayuki Takahashi

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Point spread function of ASTRO-H Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT)
Author(s): Takayuki Hayashi; Toshiki Sato; Naomichi Kikuchi; Ryo Iizuka; Yoshitomo Maeda; Manabu Ishida; Sho Kurashima; Nozomi Nakaniwa; Takashi Okajima; Hideyuki Mori; Yang Soong; Peter J. Serlemitsos

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Development of X-ray spectroscopic polarimetry with bent Si crystals and CFRP substrate
Author(s): Ryo Iizuka; Takanori Izumiya; Yohko Tsuboi

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Observing the WHIM with Athena
Author(s): T. Brand; J. Wilms; T. Dauser; P. Peille; B. Cobo; M. Ceballos; R. A. den Hartog; J. S. Kaastra; P. O'Brien; X. Barcons; L. Piro; J.-W. A. den Herder; D. Barret

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Detectability of exoplanet transits with Athena's WFI instrument: testing for white and correlated noise
Author(s): Stefania Carpano; Jörn Wilms; Arne Rau

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X-ray mirror development and testing for the ATHENA mission
Author(s): Desiree Della Monica Ferreira; Anders C. Jakobsen; Sonny Massahi; Finn E. Christensen; Brian Shortt; Jørgen Garnæs; Antoni Torras-Rosell; Michael Krumrey; Levent Cibik; Stefanie Marggraf

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New x-ray parallel beam facility XPBF 2.0 for the characterization of silicon pore optics
Author(s): Michael Krumrey; Peter Müller; Levent Cibik; Max Collon; Nicolas Barrière; Giuseppe Vacanti; Marcos Bavdaz; Eric Wille

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Simulation and modeling of silicon pore optics for the ATHENA x-ray telescope
Author(s): D. Spiga; F. E. Christensen; M. Bavdaz; M. M. Civitani; P. Conconi; D. Della Monica Ferreira; E. B. Knudsen; S. Massahi; G. Pareschi; B. Salmaso; B. Shortt; K. Tayabaly; N. J. Westergaard; E. Wille

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Development and production of a multilayer-coated x-ray reflecting stack for the Athena mission
Author(s): S. Massahi; D. D. M. Ferreira; F. E. Christensen; B. Shortt; D. A. Girou; M. Collon; B. Landgraf; N. Barriere; M. Krumrey; L. Cibik; S. Schreiber

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Optimising the multiplex factor of the frequency domain multiplexed readout of the TES-based microcalorimeter imaging array for the X-IFU instrument on the Athena x-ray observatory
Author(s): J. van der Kuur; L. G. Gottardi; H. Akamatsu; B. J. van Leeuwen; R. den Hartog; D. Haas; M. Kiviranta; B. J. Jackson

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Development of frequency domain multiplexing for the X-ray Integral Field unit (X-IFU) on the Athena
Author(s): Hiroki Akamatsu; Luciano Gottardi; Jan van der Kuur; Cor P. de Vries; Kevin Ravensberg; Joseph S. Adams; Simon R. Bandler; Marcel P. Bruijn; James A. Chervenak; Caroline A. Kilbourne; Mikko Kiviranta; A. J. van der Linden; Brian D. Jackson; Stephen J. Smith

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The impact of crosstalk in the X-IFU instrument on Athena science cases
Author(s): R. den Hartog; P. Peille; T. Dauser; B. Jackson; S. Bandler; D. Barret; T. Brand; J.-W. den Herder; M. Kiviranta; J. van der Kuur; S. Smith; J. Wilms

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Gain drift compensation with no-feedback-loop developed for the X-IFU/ATHENA readout chain
Author(s): D. Prêle; F. Voisin; C. Beillimaz; S. Chen; A. Goldwurm

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Microcalorimeter pulse analysis by means of principle component decomposition
Author(s): C. P. de Vries; R. M. Schouten; J. van der Kuur; L. Gottardi; H. Akamatsu

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Performance assessment of different pulse reconstruction algorithms for the ATHENA X-ray Integral Field Unit
Author(s): Philippe Peille; Maria Teresa Ceballos; Beatriz Cobo; Joern Wilms; Simon Bandler; Stephen J. Smith; Thomas Dauser; Thorsten Brand; Roland den Hartog; Jelle de Plaa; Didier Barret; Jan-Willem den Herder; Luigi Piro; Xavier Barcons; Etienne Pointecouteau

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The Cryogenic Anti-Coincidence detector for ATHENA X-IFU: pulse analysis of the AC-S7 single pixel prototype
Author(s): M. D'Andrea; A. Argan; S. Lotti; C. Macculi; L. Piro; M. Biasotti; D. Corsini; F. Gatti; G. Torrioli

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The ATHENA observatory is the second large-class mission in ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025, with a launch foreseen in 2028 towards the L2 orbit. The mission addresses the science theme “The Hot and Energetic Universe”, by coupling a high-performance X-ray Telescope with two complementary focal-plane instruments. One of these is the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU): it is a TES based kilo-pixel order array able to provide spatially resolved high-resolution spectroscopy (2.5 eV at 6 keV) over a 5 arcmin FoV.

The X-IFU sensitivity is degraded by the particles background expected at L2 orbit, which is induced by primary protons of both galactic and solar origin, and mostly by secondary electrons. To reduce the background level and enable the mission science goals, a Cryogenic Anticoincidence (CryoAC) detector is placed < 1 mm below the TES array. It is a 4- pixel TES based detector, with wide Silicon absorbers sensed by Ir:Au TESes.

The CryoAC development schedule foresees by Q1 2017 the delivery of a Demonstration Model (DM) to the X-IFU FPA development team. The DM is a single-pixel detector that will address the final design of the CryoAC. It will verify some representative requirements at single-pixel level, especially the detector operation at 50 mK thermal bath and the threshold energy at 20 keV.

To reach the final DM design we have developed and tested the AC-S7 prototype, with 1 cm² absorber area sensed by 65 Ir TESes. Here we will discuss the pulse analysis of this detector, which has been illuminated by the 60 keV line from a ²⁴¹Am source.

First, we will present the analysis performed to investigate pulses timings and spectrum, and to disentangle the athermal component of the pulses from the thermal one. Furthermore, we will show the application to our dataset of an alternative method of pulse processing, based upon Principal Component Analysis (PCA). This kind of analysis allow us to recover better energy spectra than achievable with traditional methods, improving the evaluation of the detector threshold energy, a fundamental parameter characterizing the CryoAC particle rejection efficiency.

The mechanical and EM simulations of the CryoAC for the ATHENA X-IFU
Author(s): D. Corsini; M. Biasotti; F. Gatti; M. De Gerone; C. Rossi; L. Piro; C. Macculi

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The new cryogenic silicon monolithic micro-bridged Anticoincidence detector for the X-IFU of ATHENA
Author(s): M. Biasotti; D. Corsini; M. De Gerone; F. Gatti; C. Macculi; M. D'Andrea; L. Piro

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Temperature effects on the performances of the ATHENA X-IFU thermal filters
Author(s): Marco Barbera; Ugo Lo Cicero; Luisa Sciortino; Elena Magnano; Igor Píš; Angela Ciaravella; Alfonso Collura; Antonio Jimenez Escobar; Matteo Levantino; Flavio Nuzzo

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The filter wheel and filters development for the X-IFU instruments onboard Athena
Author(s): E. Bozzo; M. Barbera; L. Genolet; S. Paltani; M. Sordet; G. Branduardi-Raymont; G. Rauw; S. Sciortino; D. Barret; J. W. Den Herder

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Conceptual design of the X-IFU Instrument Control Unit on board the ESA Athena mission
Author(s): L. Corcione; S. Ligori; V. Capobianco; D. Bonino; L. Valenziano; G. P. Guizzo

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Updates on the background estimates for the X-IFU instrument onboard of the ATHENA mission
Author(s): S. Lotti; C. Macculi; M. D'Andrea; L. Piro; S. Molendi; F. Gastaldello; T. Mineo; A. D'ai; A. Bulgarelli; V. Fioretti; C. Jacquey; M. Laurenza; P. Laurent

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ATHENA is the second large mission in ESA Cosmic Vision 2015-2025, with a launch foreseen in 2028 towards the L2 orbit. The mission addresses the science theme “The Hot and Energetic Universe”, by coupling a high-performance X-ray Telescope with two complementary focal-plane instruments. One of these, the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) is a TES based kilo-pixel array, providing spatially resolved high-resolution spectroscopy (2.5 eV at 6 keV) over a 5 arcmin FoV.

The background for this kind of detectors accounts for several components: the diffuse Cosmic Xray Background, the low energy particles (< ~100 keV) focalized by the mirrors and reaching the detector from inside the field of view, and the high energy particles (> ~100 MeV) crossing the spacecraft and reaching the focal plane from every direction. In particular, these high energy particles lose energy in the materials they cross, creating secondaries along their path that can induce an additional background component.

Each one of these components is under study of a team dedicated to the background issues regarding the X-IFU, with the aim to reduce their impact on the instrumental performances. This task is particularly challenging, given the lack of data on the background of X-ray detectors in L2, the uncertainties on the particle environment to be expected in such orbit, and the reliability of the models used in the Monte Carlo background computations. As a consequence, the activities addressed by the group range from the reanalysis of the data of previous missions like XMMNewton, to the characterization of the L2 environment by data analysis of the particle monitors onboard of satellites present in the Earth magnetotail, to the characterization of solar events and their occurrence, and to the validation of the physical models involved in the Monte Carlo simulations. All these activities will allow to develop a set of reliable simulations to predict, analyze and find effective solutions to reduce the particle background experienced by the X-IFU, ultimately satisfying the scientific requirement that enables the science of ATHENA.

While the activities are still ongoing, we present here some preliminary results already obtained by the group. The L2 environment characterization activities, and the analysis and validation of the physical processes involved in the Monte Carlo simulations are the core of an ESA activity named AREMBES (Athena Radiation Environment Models and Effects), for which the work presented here represents a starting point.

TESSIM: a simulator for the Athena-X-IFU
Author(s): J. Wilms; S. J. Smith; P. Peille; M. T. Ceballos; B. Cobo; T. Dauser; T. Brand; R. H. den Hartog; S. R. Bandler; J. de Plaa; J.-W. A. den Herder

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Background studies for ATHENA: status of the activities at IAAT
Author(s): E. Perinati; S. Diebold; A. Guzman; A. Santangelo; C. Tenzer

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Surface investigation and aluminum oxide estimation on test filters for the ATHENA X-IFU and WFI detectors
Author(s): Luisa Sciortino; Ugo Lo Cicero; Elena Magnano; Igor Píš; Marco Barbera

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Spectroscopic performance of DEPFET active pixel sensor prototypes suitable for the high count rate Athena WFI detector
Author(s): Johannes Müller-Seidlitz; Robert Andritschke; Alexander Bähr; Norbert Meidinger; Sabine Ott; Rainer H. Richter; Wolfgang Treberspurg; Johannes Treis

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The filter and calibration wheel for the ATHENA wide field imager
Author(s): M. Rataj; S. Polak; T. Palgan; T. Kamisiński; A. Pilch; J. Eder; N. Meidinger; M. Plattner; M. Barbera; G. Parodi; Fabio D'Anca

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Ex luna, scientia: lunar occultation as a paradigm for nuclear astrophysics
Author(s): Richard S. Miller; David J. Lawrence; Patrick N. Peplowski; John O. Goldsten; Martin T. Ozimek; Christopher J. Scott; James C. Leary; Dave Grant; C. Alex Young

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GAMCOTE: a prototype for an advanced Compton Telescope
Author(s): N. de Séréville; V. Tatischeff; P. Laurent; W. Bertoli; G. Brulin; J.-J. Dormard; N. Dosme; T. Faul; B. Genolini; L. Gibelin; A. Gostojić; X. Grave; C. Hamadache; N. Karkour; J. Kiener; X. Lafay; E. Legay; O. Limousin; D. Linget; D. Maier; R. Oger; J. Peyré; E. Rauly; P. Rosier; C. Santos; A.-S. Torrentó; V. Le Ven; E. Wanlin

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Experimental verification of the HERD prototype at CERN SPS
Author(s): Yongwei Dong; Zheng Quan; Junjing Wang; Ming Xu; Sebastiano Albergo; Filippo Ambroglini; Giovanni Ambrosi; Philipp Azzarello; Yonglin Bai; Tianwei Bao; Luca Baldini; Roberto Battiston; Paolo Bernardini; Zhen Chen; Raffaello D'Alessandro; Matteo Duranti; Domenico D'Urso; Piergiorgio Fusco; Jiarui Gao; Xiaohui Gao; Fabio Gargano; Nicola Giglietto; Bingliang Hu; Ran Li; Yong Li; Xin Liu; Francesco Loparco; Junguang Lu; Giovanni Marsella; Mario Nicola Mazziotta; Ivan De Mitri; Nicola Mori; Silvio Orsi; Adriani Oscar; Mark Pearce; Martin Pohl; Felix Ryde; Dalian Shi; Piero Spillantini; Meng Su; Xin Sun; Antonio Surdo; Roland Walter; Bo Wang; Le Wang; Ruijie Wang; Zhigang Wang; Bobing Wu; Xin Wu; Peng Yan; Li Zhang; Shuangnan Zhang

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PANGU: a wide field gamma-ray imager and polarimeter
Author(s): X. Wu; R. Walter; M. Su; G. Ambrosi; P. Azzarello; M. Böttcher; J. Chang; M. Chernyakova; Y. Fan; C. Farnier; F. Gargano; I. Grenier; W. Hajdas; M. N. Mazziotta; M. Pearce; M. Pohl; A. Zdziarski

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Gamma ray spectrometer for future Mars mission: design concept and simulation study
Author(s): S. K. Goyal; D. Banerjee; S. Vadawale; Dipak K. Panda; A. R. Patel; A. Patinge; T. Ladiya; A. Basu Sarbadhikari

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A compact and modular x- and gamma-ray detector with a CsI scintillator and double-readout Silicon Drift Detectors
Author(s): R. Campana; F. Fuschino; C. Labanti; M. Marisaldi; L. Amati; M. Fiorini; M. Uslenghi; G. Baldazzi; P. Bellutti; Y. Evangelista; I. Elmi; M. Feroci; F. Ficorella; F. Frontera; A. Picciotto; C. Piemonte; A. Rachevski; I. Rashevskaya; L. P. Rignanese; A. Vacchi; G. Zampa; N. Zampa; N. Zorzi

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Characterization of a LaBr3 scintillator with multi-cell Silicon Drift Detector (SDD) readout
Author(s): F. Fuschino; C. Labanti; R. Campana; G. C. Gangemi; M. Marisaldi; L. P. Rignanese; G. Baldazzi; I. Elmi; Y. Evangelista; M. Feroci; G. Zampa; N. Zampa; A. Rashevsky; A. Vacchi; I. Rashevskaya; S. Fabiani; N. Zorzi; C. Piemonte; P. Bellutti; F. Ficorella; G. Borghi; L. Burderi

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The Advanced Scintillator Compton Telescope (ASCOT) balloon project
Author(s): Peter F. Bloser; Tejaswita Sharma; Jason S. Legere; Christopher M. Bancroft; Mark L. McConnell; James M. Ryan; Alex M. Wright

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We describe a project to develop new medium-energy gamma-ray instrumentation by constructing and flying a balloon-borne Compton telescope using advanced scintillator materials combined with silicon photomultiplier readouts. There is a need in high-energy astronomy for a medium-energy gamma-ray mission covering the energy range from approximately 0.4 - 20 MeV to follow the success of the COMPTEL instrument on CGRO. We believe that directly building on the legacy of COMPTEL, using relatively robust, low-cost, off-the-shelf technologies, is the most promising path for such a mission. Fortunately, high-performance scintillators, such as Lanthanum Bromide (LaBr3), Cerium Bromide (CeBr₃), and p-terphenyl, and compact readout devices, such as silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs), are already commercially available and capable of meeting this need. We have conducted two balloon flights of prototype instruments to test these technologies. The first, in 2011, demonstrated that a Compton telescope consisting of an liquid organic scintillator scattering layer and a LaBr₃ calorimeter effectively rejects background under balloon-flight conditions, using time-of-flight (ToF) discrimination. The second, in 2014, showed that a telescope using an organic stilbene crystal scattering element and a LaBr3 calorimeter with SiPM readouts can achieve similar ToF performance. We are now constructing a much larger balloon instrument, an Advanced Scintillator Compton Telescope (ASCOT) with SiPM readout, with the goal of imaging the Crab Nebula at MeV energies in a one-day flight. We expect a ~4σ detection up to ~1 MeV in a single transit. We present calibration results of the first detector modules, and updated simulations of the balloon instrument sensitivity. If successful, this project will demonstrate that the energy, timing, and position resolution of this technology are sufficient to achieve an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity in the mediumenergy gamma-ray band, were it to be applied to a ~1 cubic meter instrument on a long-duration balloon or Explorer platform.

A concept for a soft gamma-ray concentrator using thin-film multilayer structures
Author(s): Peter F. Bloser; Farzane Shirazi; Olof Echt; James E. Krzanowski; Jason S. Legere; Mark L. McConnell; John G. Tsavalas; Emily N. Wong; Paul H. Aliotta

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In-depth calibration of a Laue lens prototype composed of Fe and Al mosaic crystals
Author(s): Colin Wade; Nicolas Barrière; John A. Tomsick; Lorraine Hanlon; Steven E. Boggs; Nicolai F. Brejnholt; Sonny Massahi; Peter Von Ballmoos

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Multilayer coating of XTP telescope mirrors
Author(s): Li Jiang; Runze Qi; Yang Yang; Qiushi Huang; Zhong Zhang; Yuhong Bai; Zhanshan Wang

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X-ray mirror module analytical design from field of view requirement and stray light tolerances
Author(s): Daniele Spiga

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Cold and Hot Slumped Glass Optics with interfacing ribs for high angular resolution x-ray telescopes
Author(s): M. Civitani; S. Basso; M. Ghigo; G. Pareschi; B. Salmaso; D. Spiga; G. Vecchi; R. Banham; E. Breuning; V. Burwitz; G. Hartner; B. Menz

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Development of low-stress Iridium coatings for astronomical x-ray mirrors
Author(s): Thorsten Döhring; Anne-Catherine Probst; Manfred Stollenwerk; Mingwu Wen; Laura Proserpio

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Monte Carlo simulations of soft proton flares: testing the physics with XMM-Newton
Author(s): Valentina Fioretti; Andrea Bulgarelli; Giuseppe Malaguti; Daniele Spiga; Andrea Tiengo

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Low energy protons (< 100 - 300 keV) in the Van Allen belt and the outer regions can enter the field of view of X-ray focusing telescopes, interact with the Wolter-I optics, and reach the focal plane. The funneling of soft protons was discovered after the damaging of the Chandra/ACIS Front-Illuminated CCDs in September 1999 after the first passages through the radiation belt. The use of special filters protects the XMM-Newton focal plane below an altitude of 70000 km, but above this limit the effect of soft protons is still present in the form of sudden ares in the count rate of the EPIC instruments that can last from hundreds of seconds to hours and can hardly be disentangled from X-ray photons, causing the loss of large amounts of observing time. The accurate characterization of (i) the distribution of the soft proton population, (ii) the physics interaction at play, and (iii) the effect on the focal plane, are mandatory to evaluate the background and design the proton magnetic diverter on board future X-ray focusing telescopes (e.g. ATHENA). Several solutions have been proposed so far for the primary population and the physics interaction, however the difficulty in precise angle and energy measurements in laboratory makes the smoking gun still unclear. Since the only real data available is the XMM-Newton spectrum of soft proton flares in orbit, we try to characterize the input proton population and the physics interaction by simulating, using the BoGEMMS framework, the proton interaction with a simplified model of the X-ray mirror module and the focal plane, and comparing the result with a real observation. The analysis of ten orbits of observations of the EPIC/pn instrument show that the detection of flares in regions far outside the radiation belt is largely influenced by the different orientation of the Earth's magnetosphere respect with XMM-Newton'os orbit, confirming the solar origin of the soft proton population. The Equator-S proton spectrum at 70000 km altitude is used for the proton population entering the optics, where a combined multiple and Firsov scattering is used as physics interaction. If the thick filter is used, the soft protons in the 30-70 keV energy range are the main contributors to the simulated spectrum below 10 keV. We are able to reproduce the proton vignetting observed in real data-sets, with a ~ 50% decrease from the inner to the outer region, but a maximum flux of ~ 0:01 counts cm² s^-1 keV^-1 is obtained below 10 keV, about 5 times lower than the EPIC/MOS detection and 100 times lower than the EPIC/pn one. Given the high variability of the are intensity, we conclude that an average spectrum, based on the analysis of a full season of soft proton events is required to compare Monte Carlo simulations with real events.

Alignment and distortion-free integration of lightweight mirrors into meta-shells for high-resolution astronomical x-ray optics
Author(s): Kai-Wing Chan; William W. Zhang; Mark J. Schofield; Ai Numata; James R. Mazzarella; Timo T. Saha; Michael P. Biskach; Ryan S. McClelland; Jason Niemeyer; Marton V. Sharpe; Lawrence G. Olsen

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Indirect slumping of D263 glass on Fused Silica mould
Author(s): Laura Proserpio; Mingwu Wen; Elias Breunig; Vadim Burwitz; Peter Friedrich; Emanuel Madarasz

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Analysis on the use of vacuum oven for the indirect slumping of glass x-ray mirror segments
Author(s): Emanuel Madarasz; Laura Proserpio; Elias Breunig; Peter Friedrich

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Development of an x-ray telescope using the carbon fiber reinforced plastic
Author(s): Hisamitsu Awaki; Satoshi Sugita; Keiji Ogi; Kenya Yoshioka; Hironori Matsumoto; Ikuyuki Mitsuishi; Yuzuru Tawara

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On the alignment and focusing of the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS)
Author(s): Patrick Champey; Amy Winebarger; Ken Kobayashi; Sabrina Savage; Jonathan Cirtain; Peter Cheimets; Edward Hertz; Leon Golub; Brian Ramsey; Jeff McCracken; Vanessa Marquez; Ryan Allured; Ralf K. Heilmann; Mark Schattenburg; Alexander Bruccoleri

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Design of a medium size x-ray mirror module based on thin glass foils
Author(s): Stefano Basso; Marta Civitani; Giovanni Pareschi

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Simulating x-ray telescopes with McXtrace: a case study of ATHENA’s optics
Author(s): Desiree D. M. Ferreira; Erik B. Knudsen; Niels J. Westergaard; Finn E. Christensen; Sonny Massahi; Brian Shortt; Daniele Spiga; Mathias Solstad; Kim Lefmann

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Ion beam figuring of thin glass plates: achievements and perspectives
Author(s): M. Civitani; M. Ghigo; J. Hołyszko; G. Vecchi; S. Basso

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Adjustable integration molds for X-ray optics with cold shaping: requirements and conceptual design
Author(s): M. Civitani; S. Basso; G. Pareschi

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Design and analysis of an x-ray mirror assembly using the meta-shell approach
Author(s): Ryan S. McClelland; Joseph A. Bonafede; Timo T. Saha; Peter M. Solly; William W. Zhang

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Development of manufacture of mirror glass substrate for x-ray timing and polarization observatory
Author(s): Zhenbo Wei; Bing Ge; Xin Jin; Na Liu; Yingyu Liao; Bin Ma; Yuhong Bai; Zhanshan Wang

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PROCEEDINGS VOLUME 9905

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