Off-plane x-ray grating spectrometer camera for IXO

Abstract

The International X-ray Observatory (IXO) is a merger of the former ESA XEUS and NASA Constellation-X missions, with additional collaboration from JAXA, proposed for launch ~2020. IXO will address the leading astrophysical questions in the 'hot universe' through its breakthrough capabilities in X-ray spectroscopy. The mission covers the 0.1 to 40 keV energy range, complementing the capabilities of the next generation observatories, such as ALMA, LSST, JWST and 30 meter ground-based telescopes. An X-ray Grating Spectrometer is baselined to provide science in the energy range 0.3-1.0 keV at a spectral resolution of E/ΔE > 3,000 with an effective area greater than 1,000 cm 2 . This will require an array of soft X-ray enhanced CCDs operating at a modest frame rate to measure the diffracted light in both position and energy. Here we describe the baseline camera for the Off-plane XGS instrument using mature CCD technology.

The use of EM-CCDs on high resolution soft x-ray spectrometers

“…The baseline design is to use conventional CCDs; however, a study has been performed to look at the possibility of using EM-CCDs. 10 Figure 3. Total grating efficiency shown as a function of the combination of different orders of dispersed X-rays.…”