Fast large-area spectroscopic and imaging CCD detectors for x-ray astronomy with eROSITA and for exploration of the nanocosmos

N. Meidinger; R. Andritschke; O. Hälker; R. Hartmann; G. Hasinger; S. Herrmann; P. Holl; N. Kimmel; E. Pfeffermann; P. Predehl; C. Reich; G. Schächner; H. Soltau; L. Strüder

doi:10.1117/12.731756

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13 September 2007 Fast large-area spectroscopic and imaging CCD detectors for x-ray astronomy with eROSITA and for exploration of the nanocosmos

N. Meidinger, R. Andritschke, O. Hälker, R. Hartmann, G. Hasinger, S. Herrmann, P. Holl, N. Kimmel, E. Pfeffermann, P. Predehl, C. Reich, G. Schächner, H. Soltau, L. Strüder

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 6686, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XV; 66860H (2007) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.731756
Event: Optical Engineering + Applications, 2007, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

A pnCCD detector fulfils all typical requirement specifications to an X-ray detector optimally: The energy of the X-ray photon is precisely measured, incidence position is determined even more accurate than the pixel size, and the arrival time of the photon is very well defined by the high frame rate due to complete parallel signal processing. The probability for detection of an X-ray photon is from 0.3 keV to 10 keV close to 100% and homogeneous over the image area. Such a detector has been developed for application in X-ray astronomy. The XMM-Newton space observatory is already equipped with a pnCCD camera which performs since commissioning in 2000 till this day excellent measurements. For the upcoming eROSITA telescope on the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma satellite, an advanced pnCCD detector system is presently developed. Seven pnCCD cameras are placed in the foci of seven X-ray mirror systems researching the X-ray sky during a mission time of 5 years. For ground based instrumentation the X-ray fluxes can be extremely high, as it is the case in X-ray free electron lasers (XFELs). The evolving XFELs will make it possible to capture three-dimensional images of the nanocosmos. Here the focus is set on the measurement of X-ray intensities instead of spectroscopy, i.e. the number of monochromatic photons per pixel (up to > 1000 photons) is counted at very high frame rates ( > 100/s). Both projects have again in common the request for large image areas: in case of eROSITA seven times an image area of 8 cm² and for the XFEL experiment at LCLS we provide in a first step a 59 cm² large image area. In a second step it will be enlarged to even 236 cm². We performed recently promising tests with the prototype detectors. Therefore we started the production of the final devices for both applications in the MPI semiconductor laboratory.

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N. Meidinger, R. Andritschke, O. Hälker, R. Hartmann, G. Hasinger, S. Herrmann, P. Holl, N. Kimmel, E. Pfeffermann, P. Predehl, C. Reich, G. Schächner, H. Soltau, and L. Strüder "Fast large-area spectroscopic and imaging CCD detectors for x-ray astronomy with eROSITA and for exploration of the nanocosmos", Proc. SPIE 6686, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XV, 66860H (13 September 2007); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.731756

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