In: Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnaté Pleso, vol. 48, no. 3
N. Meidinger
Details:
Year, pages: 2018, 498 - 505
Keywords:
Athena, Wide Field Imager, X-ray camera
Original source URL: http://www.astro.sk/caosp/Eedition/Abstracts/2018/Vol_48/No_3/pp498-505_abstract.html
About article:
ESA's next large X-ray mission Athena will be equipped with two focal plane
cameras, a Wide Field Imager (WFI) and an X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU).
The WFI instrument is designed for imaging and spectroscopy over a large
field of view, and high count rate observations up to and beyond 1 Crab
source intensity. Both cameras share alternately a mirror system based on
silicon pore optics with a focal length of 12 m and an unprecedented large
effective area. Main scientific requirements for WFI are described here and
the corresponding conceptual design to meet them. The instrument employs
active pixel sensors of DEPFET type, which are fully depleted,
back-illuminated silicon devices of 450 μm thickness. In
combination with front-end electronics ASICs tailored to the project, the
resulting detectors provide high quantum efficiency over the 0.2 keV to 15
keV range with state-of-the art spectral resolution and extremely fast
readout speeds compared to previous generations of Si detectors for X-ray
astronomy. The focal plane comprises a Large Detector Array (LDA) with over
1 million pixel of 130 μm × 130 μm size, providing
oversampling of the PSF by a factor >2 over the 40 arcmin × 40 arcmin
large field of view, complemented by a smaller Fast
Detector (FD) optimized for high count rate applications.
How to cite:
ISO 690:
Meidinger, N. 2018. The Wide Field Imager instrument for Athena. In Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnaté Pleso, vol. 48, no.3, pp. 498-505. 1335-1842.
APA:
Meidinger, N. (2018). The Wide Field Imager instrument for Athena. Contributions of the Astronomical Observatory Skalnaté Pleso, 48(3), 498-505. 1335-1842.