The soft x-ray photon-counting telescope for solar observations

Taro Sakao; Noriyuki Narukage; Yoshinori Suematsu; Kyoko Watanabe; Masumi Shimojo; Shinsuke Imada; Shin-nosuke Ishikawa; Edward E. DeLuca

doi:10.1117/12.2055925

24 July 2014 The soft x-ray photon-counting telescope for solar observations

Taro Sakao, Noriyuki Narukage, Yoshinori Suematsu, Kyoko Watanabe, Masumi Shimojo, Shinsuke Imada, Shin-nosuke Ishikawa, Edward E. DeLuca

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 91443D (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055925
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2014, Montréal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

We present overview and development activities of a soft X-ray photon-counting spectroscopic imager for the solar corona that we conceive as a possible scientific payload for future space solar missions including Japanese Solar-C. The soft X-ray imager will employ a Wolter I grazing-incidence sector mirror with which images of the corona (1 MK to beyond 10 MK) will be taken with the highest-ever angular resolution (0.5"/pixel for a focal length of 4 m) as a solar Xray telescope. In addition to high-resolution imagery, we attempt to implement photon-counting capability for the imager by employing a backside-illuminated CMOS image sensor as the focal-plane device. Imaging-spectroscopy of the X-ray corona will be performed for the first time in the energy range from ~0.5 keV up to 10 keV. The imaging-spectroscopic observations with the soft X-ray imager will provide a noble probe for investigating mechanism(s) of magnetic reconnection and generation of supra-thermal (non-thermal) electrons associated with flares. Ongoing development activities in Japan towards the photon-counting imager is described with emphasis on that for sub-arcsecond-resolution grazing-incidence mirrors.

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Taro Sakao, Noriyuki Narukage, Yoshinori Suematsu, Kyoko Watanabe, Masumi Shimojo, Shinsuke Imada, Shin-nosuke Ishikawa, and Edward E. DeLuca "The soft x-ray photon-counting telescope for solar observations", Proc. SPIE 9144, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2014: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 91443D (24 July 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2055925

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