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NASA NTRS2011

Development of the ASTRO-H Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT): Engineering Model Performance

The X-ray astronomy satellite ASTRO-H, being developed under the collaboration among JAXA, NASA's GSFC and ESA, will have two Soft X-ray Telescopes (SXTs), among other instuments onboard, with a sensitive energy band below 12 keV. One is for an X-ray micorocalorimeter detector and the other for a X-ray CCD detector. The SXT uses a conically approximated Wolter I grazing incidence optic implemented by thin aluminum foil substrates with thickness of 0.152, 0.229, and 0.305 mm. It is similar to the Suzaku XRT, but with larger diameter (45 cm) and longer focal length (5.6 m). Goal of the angular resolution and effective area are 1 arcmin and 390 cm$A2$ at 6 keV, respectively. We made serveral improvements from Suzaku to ASTRO-H, such as thicker substrates, more forming mandrels, thinner epoxy layer for replication, stiffer housings, precise alignment bars, etc. With all these changes, we have fabricated the engineering test unit of the SXT. In this paper, we will discuss all the changes made, their effects, and report X-ray performance of the SXT test unit. An angular resolution of the test unit was measured at new Goddard X-ray calibration facility (100 m X-ray beamline) and was found to be 1.1 arcmin. We will also discuss further improvements toward the flight unit to be delivered to JAXA in 2012.

Okajima, Takashi↗

NASA NTRS2011

ASTRO-H Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT)

ASTRO-H is an astrophysics satellite dedicated for X-ray spectroscopic study non-dispersively and to carry out survey complementally, which will be borne out of US-Japanese collaborative effort. Among the onboard instruments there are four conically approximated Wolter-I X-ray mirrors, among which two of them are soft X-ray mirrors\ of which the energy range is from a few hundred eV to 15 keY, currently being fabricated in the X-ray Optics Lab at Goddard Space Flight Center. The focal point instruments will be a calorimeter (SXS) and a CCD camera (SXI), respectively. The reflectors of the mirror are made of heat-formed aluminum substrate of the thickness gauged of 152 micron, 229 micron, and 305 micron of the alloy 5052 H-19, followed by epoxy replication on gold-sputtered smooth Pyrex cylindrical mandrels to acquire the X-ray reflective surface. The epoxy layer is 10 micron nominal and surface gold layer of 0.2 micron. Improvements on angular response over the Astro-El/Suzaku mirrors come from error reduction on the figure, the roundness, and the grazing angle/radius mismatching of the reflecting surface, and tighter specs and mechanical strength on supporting structure to reduce the reflector positioning and the assembly errors. In this paper, we report the results of calibration of the engineering model of SXT (EM), and project the quality of the flight mirrors.

Soong, Yang↗

NASA NTRS2016

On-Orbit Operation of the Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator on the Astro-H/Hitomi Soft X-ray Spectrometer Instrument

The Soft X-ray Spectrometer instrument on the Astro-H observatory contains a 6x6 array of x-ray microcalorimeters, which is cooled to 50 mK by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). The ADR consists of three stages in order to provide stable detector cooling using either a 1.2 K superfluid helium bath or a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler as its heat sink. When liquid helium is present, two of the ADRs stages are used to single-shot cool the detectors while rejecting heat to the helium. After the helium is depleted, all three stages are used to cool both the helium tank (to about 1.5 K) and the detectors (to 50 mK) using the JT cryocooler as its heat sink. The Astro-H observatory, renamed Hitomi after its successful launch in February 2016, carried approximately 36 liters of helium into orbit. On day 5, the helium had cooled sufficiently (1.4 K) to allow operation of the ADR. This paper describes the design, operation and on-orbit performance of the ADR.

sub-kelvin refrigeration↗

NASA NTRS2016

The ASTRO-H (Hitomi) X-Ray Astronomy Satellite

The Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission is the sixth Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite developed by a large international collaboration, including Japan, USA, Canada, and Europe. The mission aimed to provide the highest energy resolution ever achieved at E greater than 2 keV, using a microcalorimeter instrument, and to cover a wide energy range spanning four decades in energy from soft X-rays to gamma-rays. After a successful launch on 2016 February 17, the spacecraft lost its function on 2016 March 26, but the commissioning phase for about a month provided valuable information on the on-board instruments and the spacecraft system, including astrophysical results obtained from first light observations. The paper describes the Hitomi (ASTRO-H) mission, its capabilities, the initial operation, and the instruments/spacecraft performances confirmed during the commissioning operations for about a month.

Hard X-ray↗

NASA NTRS2018

Astro-H/Hitomi Data Analysis, Processing, and Archive

Astro-H is the x-ray/gamma-ray mission led by Japan with international participation, launched on February 17, 2016. Soon after launch, Astro-H was renamed Hitomi. The payload consists of four different instruments (SXS, SXI, HXI, and SGD) that operate simultaneously to cover the energy range from 0.3 keV up to 600 keV. On March 27, 2016, JAXA lost contact with the satellite and, on April 28, they announced the cessation of the efforts to restore mission operations. Hitomi collected about one months worth of data with its instruments. This paper presents the analysis software and the data processing pipeline created to calibrate and analyze the Hitomi science data, along with the plan for the archive. These activities have been a collaborative effort shared between scientists and software engineers working in several institutes in Japan and United States.

Angelini, Lorella↗

NASA NTRS2014

Performance Testing of the Astro-H Flight Model 3-Stage ADR

The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) is one of four instruments that will be flown on the Japanese Astro-H satellite, planned for launch in late 2015early 2016. The SXS will perform imaging spectroscopy in the soft x-ray band using a 6x6 array of silicon micro calorimeters operated at 50 mK, cooled by an adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). NASAGSFC is providing the detector array and ADR, and Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Inc. is providing the remainder of the cryogenic system (superfluid helium dewar (1.3 K), Stirling cryocoolers and a 4.5 K Joule-Thomson (JT) cryocooler). The ADR is unique in that it is designed to use both the liquid helium and the JT cryocooler as it heat sink. The flight detector and ADR assembly have successfully undergone vibration and performance testing at GSFC, and have now undergone initial performance testing with the flight dewar at Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Inc. in Japan. This presentation summarizes the performance of the flight ADR in both cryogen-based and cryogen-free operating modes.

adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator↗

NASA NTRS2015

Study of the Residual Background Events in Ground Data from the ASTRO-HSXS Microcalorimeter

The measured instrumental background of the XRS calorimeter spectrometer of Suzaku had several sources, including primary cosmic rays and secondary particles interacting with the pixels and with the silicon structure of the array. Prior to the launch of Suzaku, several data sets were taken without x-ray illumination to study the characteristics and timing of background signals produced in the array and anti-coincidence detector. Even though the source of the background in the laboratory was different from that in low-earth orbit (muons and environmental gamma-rays on the ground versus Galactic cosmic-ray (GCR) protons and alpha particles in space), the study of correlations and properties of populations of rare events was useful for establishing the preliminary screening parameters needed for selection of good science data. Sea-level muons are singly charged minimum-ionizing particles, like the GCR protons, and thus were good probes of the effectiveness of screening via the signals from the anti-coincidence detector. Here we present the first analysis of the on-ground background of the SXS calorimeter of Astro-H. On XRS, the background prior to screening was completely dominated by coincident events on many pixels resulting from the temperature pulse arising from each large energy deposition (greater than 200 keV) into the silicon frame around the array. The improved heat-sinking of the SXS array compared with XRS eliminated these thermal disturbances, greatly reducing the measured count rate in the absence of illumination. The removal of these events has made it easier to study the nature of the residual background and to look for additional event populations. We compare the SXS residual background to that measured in equivalent ground data for XRS and discuss these preliminary results.

ASTRO-H↗

NASA NTRS2016

The Design, Implementation, and Performance of the Astro-H SXS Calorimeter Array and Anti-Coincidence Detector

The calorimeter array of the JAXA Astro-H (renamed Hitomi) Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) was designed to provide unprecedented spectral resolution of spatially extended cosmic x-ray sources and of all cosmic x-ray sources in the Fe-K band around 6 keV, enabling essential plasma diagnostics. The SXS has a square array of 36 microcalorimeters at the focal plane. These calorimeters consist of ion-implanted silicon thermistors and HgTe thermalizing x-ray absorbers. These devices have demonstrated a resolution of better than 4.5 eV at 6 keV when operated at a heat-sink temperature of 50 mK. We will discuss the basic physical parameters of this array, including the array layout, thermal conductance of the link to the heat sink, resistance function, absorber details, and means of attaching the absorber to the thermistor-bearing element. We will also present the thermal characterization of the whole array, including thermal conductance and crosstalk measurements and the results of pulsing the frame temperature via alpha particles, heat pulses, and the environmental background. A silicon ionization detector is located behind the calorimeter array and serves to reject events due to cosmic rays. We will briefly describe this anti-coincidence detector and its performance.

x-ray calorimeter↗

NASA NTRS2016

The Design, Implementation, and Performance of the Astro-H SXS Aperture Assembly and Blocking Filters

The calorimeter array of the JAXA Astro-H (renamed Hitomi) Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) was designed to provide unprecedented spectral resolution of spatially extended cosmic x-ray sources and of all cosmic x-ray sources in the Fe-K band around 6 keV. The properties that make the SXS a powerful x-ray spectrometer also make it sensitive to the entire electromagnetic band. If characterized as a bolometer, it would have a noise equivalent power (NEP) of < 4x10(exp -18) W/(Hz)0.5. Thus it was imperative to shield the detector from thermal radiation from the instrument and optical and UV photons from the sky. Additionally, it was necessary to shield the coldest stages of the instrument from the thermal radiation emanating from the warmer stages. These needs are addressed by a series of five thin-film radiation blocking filters that block long-wavelength radiation while minimizing x-ray attenuation. The SXS aperture assembly is a system of barriers, baffles, filter carriers, and filter mounts that supports the filters and inhibits their potential contamination. The three warmer filters also were equipped with thermometers and heaters for decontamination.

microcalorimeter↗

NASA NTRS2016

Atomic Scattering Factor of the ASTRO-H (Hitomi) SXT Reflector Around the Gold's L Edges

The atomic scattering factor in the energy range of 11.2 - 15.4 keV for the ASTRO-H Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) is reported. The large effective area of the SXT makes use of photon spectra above 10 keV viable, unlike most other X-ray satellites with total-reflection mirror optics. Presence of gold's L-edges in the energy band is a major issue, as it complicates the function of the effective area. In order to model the area, the reflectivity measurements in the 11.2 - 15.4 keV band with the energy pitch of 0.4 - 0.7 eV were made in the synchrotron beam-line Spring-8 BL01B1. We obtained atomic scattering factors f1 and f2 by the curve fitting to the reflectivities of our witness sample. The edges associated with the L-I, II, and III transitions are identified, of which the depths are found to be roughly 60 shallower than those expected from the Henkes atomic scattering factor.

ASTRO-H Soft X-ray↗

NASA NTRS2016

Reflectivity Around the Gold M-Edges of X-ray Reflector of the Soft X-Ray Telescope Onboard ASTRO-H

The X-ray astronomy satellite ASTRO-H are equipped with two equivalent soft X-ray telescopes (SXT-I and SXT-S) which cover the energy band 0.3-12 keV. The X-ray reflectors of the SXTs are coated with a gold monolayer by means of the replication technique. A series of gold M absorption edges in the 2-4 keV band causes complex structures in the energy response of the SXTs. In the same band, there are astrophysically important emission lines from Si, Ar and S. Since the SXS has unprecedentedly high spectral resolution, we have measured the reflectivity around the gold M-edges in an extremely fine energy pitch at the synchrotron radiation facility KEK PF BL11-B, with the 2 eV pitch in 2100 eV to 4100 eV band that covers the entire series of the absorption edges (M-I through M-V) at grazing incident angles to the reflectors of 0.5, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4 degree, and with a finer pitch of 0.25 eV in the 2200 eV to 2350 eV band where the two deepest M-IV and M-V edges are included. In the resultant reflectivity curves, we have clearly identified the fine structures associated with all the M-edges. Using these data, we calculated atomic scattering factor f1 as a function of X-ray energy, with which we have built the mirror response function which can be applied to the Suzaku spectra. As a result, we have found that discrepancy of the spectral model to the Suzaku data of 4U1630-472 (a black hole transient) and the Crab nebula around the M-edges are significantly reduced from those with the official Suzaku response.

ASTRO-H↗

NASA NTRS2016

Reflectivity Around the Gold L-Edges of X-Ray Reflector of the Soft X-Ray Telescope Onboard ASTRO-H

We report the atomic scattering factor in the 11.215.4 keV for the ASTRO-H Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT) obtained in the ground based measurements. The large effective area of the SXT covers above 10 keV. In fact, the flight data show the spectra of the celestical objects in the hard X-ray band. In order to model the area, the reflectivity measurements in the 11.2-15.4 keV band with the energy pitch of 0.4-0.7 eV were made in the synchrotron beamline Spring-8 BL01B1. We obtained atomic scattering factors f1 and f2 by the curve fitting to the reflectivities of our witness sample. The edges associated with the golds L-I, II, and III transitions are identified, of which the depths are found to be roughly 60 percent shallower than those expected from the Henke's atomic scattering factor.

X-rays↗

NASA NTRS2016

In-Orbit Operation of the ASTRO-H SXS

We summarize all the in-orbit operations of the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard the ASTRO-H (Hitomi) satellite. The satellite was launched on 2016-02- 17 and the communication with the satellite ceased on2016-03-26. The SXS was still in the commissioning phase, in which the setups were progressively changed. This article is intended to serve as a reference of the events in the orbit to properly interpret the SXS data taken during its short life time, and as a test case for planning the in-orbit operation for future micro-calorimeter missions.

X-ray micro-calorimeter↗

NASA NTRS2016

Performance of ASTRO-H Hard X-Ray Telescope (HXT)

The Japanese X-ray Astronomy Satellite, Hitomi (ASTRO-H) carries hard X-ray imaging system, covering the energy band from 5 keV to 80 keV. The hard X-ray imaging system consists of two hard X-ray telescopes (HXT) and two hard X-ray imagers (HXI). The HXT employs tightly-nested, conically-approximated thin foil Wolter-I optics. The mirror surfaces of HXT were coated with PtC depth-graded multilayers. We carried out ground calibrations of HXTs at the synchrotron radiation facility SPring-8 BL20B2 in Japan, and found that total effective area of two HXTs was about 350 sq cm at 30 keV, and the half power diameter of HXT was about 1.9. After the launch of Hitomi, Hitomi observed several targets during the initial functional verification of the onboard instruments. The Hitomi software and calibration team (SCT) provided the Hitomis data of G21.5-0.9, a pulsar wind nebula, to the hardware team for the purpose of the instrument calibration. Through the analysis of the in-flight data, we have confirmed that the X-ray performance of HXTs in orbit was consistent with that estimated by the ground calibrations.

hard X-ray telescope↗

NASA NTRS2016

Point Spread Function of ASTRO-H Soft X-Ray Telescope (SXT)

ASTRO-H (Hitomi) satellite equips two Soft X-ray Telescopes (SXTs), one of which (SXT-S) is coupled to Soft-X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) while the other (SXT-I) is coupled to Soft X-ray Imager (SXI). Although SXTs are lightweight of approximately 42 kgmodule1 and have large on-axis effective area (EA) of approximately 450 cm(exp 2) at 4.5 keV module(sub 1) by themselves, their angular resolutions are moderate approximately 1.2 arcmin in half power diameter. The amount of contamination into the SXS FOV (3.05 times 3.05 arcmin(exp 2) from nearby sources was measured in the ground-based calibration at the beamline in Institute of Space and Astronautical Science. The contamination at 4.5 keV were measured with sources distant from the SXS center by one width of the FOV in perpendicular and diagonal directions, that is, 3 and 4.5 arcmin-off, respectively. The average EA of the contamination in the four directions with the 3 and 4.5 arcmin-off were measured to be 2 and 0.6% of the on-axis EA of 412 cm (exp) for the SXS FOV, respectively. The contamination from a source distant by two FOV widths in a diagonal direction, that is, 8.6 arcmin-off was measured to be 0.1% of the on-axis at 4.5 keV. The contamination amounts were also measured at 1.5 keV and 8.0 keV which indicated that the ratio of the contamination EA to that of on-axis hardly depended on the source energy. The off-axis SXT-I images from 4.5 to 27 arcmin were acquired at intervals of -4.5 arcmin for the SXI FOV of 38 times 38 arcmin(exp 2). The image shrinked as the off-axis angle increased. Above 13.5 arcmin of off-angle, a stray appeared around the image center in the off-axis direction. As for the on-axis image, a ring-shaped stray appeared at the edge of SXI of approximately 18 arcmin distant from the image center.

Soft X-ray spectrometer↗

NASA NTRS2016

Vibration Isolation System for Cryocoolers of Soft X-Ray Spectrometer (SXS) Onboard ASTRO-H (Hitomi)

Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard ASTRO-H (named Hitomi after launch) is a micro-calorimeter-type spectrometer, installed in a dewar to be cooled at 50 mK. The energy resolution of the SXS engineering model suffered from micro-vibration from cryocoolers mounted on the dewar. This is mitigated for the flight model by introducing vibration isolation systems between the cryocoolers and the dewar. The detector performance of the flight model was verified before launch of the spacecraft in both ambient condition and thermal-vac condition, showing no detectable degradation in energy resolution. The in-orbit performance was also consistent with that on ground, indicating that the cryocoolers were not damaged by launch environment. The design and performance of the vibration isolation system along with the mechanism of how the micro-vibration could degrade the cryogenic detector is shown.

Microcalorimeter↗

NASA NTRS2016

Astro-H Data Analysis, Processing and Archive

Astro-H (Hitomi) is an X-ray Gamma-ray mission led by Japan with international participation, launched on February 17, 2016. The payload consists of four different instruments (SXS, SXI, HXI and SGD) that operate simultaneously to cover the energy range from 0.3 keV up to 600 keV. This paper presents the analysis software and the data processing pipeline created to calibrate and analyze the Hitomi science data along with the plan for the archive and user support.These activities have been a collaborative effort shared between scientists and software engineers working in several institutes in Japan and USA.

Archive↗

NASA NTRS2016

Examining the Angular Resolution of the Astro-H's Soft X-Ray Telescopes

The international x-ray observatory ASTRO-H was renamed Hitomi after launch. It covers a wide energy range from a few hundred eV to 600 keV. It is equipped with two soft x-ray telescopes (SXTs: SXT-I and SXT-S) for imaging the soft x-ray sky up to 12 keV, which focus an image onto the respective focal-plane detectors: CCD camera (SXI) and a calorimeter (SXS). The SXTs are fabricated in a quadrant unit. The angular resolution in half-power diameter (HPD) of each quadrant of the SXTs ranges between 1.1 and 1.4 arc min at 4.51 keV. It was also found that one quadrant has an energy dependence on the HPD. We examine the angular resolution with spot scan measurements. In order to understand the cause of imaging capability deterioration and to reflect it to the future telescope development, we carried out spot scan measurements, in which we illuminate all over the aperture of each quadrant with a square beam 8 mm on a side. Based on the scan results, we made maps of image blurring and a focus position. The former and the latter reflect figure error and positioning error, respectively, of the foils that are within the incident 8 mm x 8 mm beam. As a result, we estimated those errors in a quadrant to be approx. 0.9 to 1.0 and approx. 0.6 to 0.9 arc min, respectively. We found that the larger the positioning error in a quadrant is, the larger its HPD is. The HPD map, which manifests the local image blurring, is very similar from quadrant to quadrant, but the map of the focus position is different from location to location in each telescope. It is also found that the difference in local performance causes energy dependence of the HPD.

Astro-H/Hitomi; soft x-ray telescope; SXT; Wolter ↗