Related papers: Balloon-borne gamma-ray polarimetry
The measurement of the linear polarization is one of the hot topics of High Energy Astrophysics. Gas detectors based on photoelectric effect have paved the way for the design of sensitive instruments and mission proposals based on them have…
This paper discusses the latest progress in the development of GRAPE (Gamma-Ray Polarimeter Experiment), a hard X-ray Compton Polarimeter. The purpose of GRAPE is to measure the polarization of hard X-rays in the 50-300 keV energy range. We…
Gamma-Ray Bursts are among the most powerful events in the Universe. Despite half a century of observations of these transient sources, many open questions remain about their nature. Polarization measurements of the GRB prompt emission have…
We report on the design and estimated performance of a balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimeter called HX-POL. The experiment uses a combination of Si and Cadmium Zinc Telluride detectors to measure the polarization of 50 keV-400 keV X-rays…
Polarimetry is widely considered a powerful observational technique in X-ray astronomy, useful to enhance our understanding of the emission mechanisms, geometry and magnetic field arrangement of many compact objects. However, the lack of…
The XL-Calibur balloon-borne hard X-ray polarimetry mission comprises a Compton-scattering polarimeter placed at the focal point of an X-ray mirror. The polarimeter is housed within a BGO anticoincidence shield, which is needed to mitigate…
POLAR is space-borne detector designed for a precise measurement of gamma-ray polarization of the prompt emissions of Gamma-Ray Bursts in the energy range 50 keV - 500 keV. POLAR is a compact Compton polarimeter consisting of 40$\times$ 40…
The POLAR-2 mission consists of 3 instruments designed with the combined aim of producing a deeper understanding of Gamma-Ray Bursts. To achieve this, POLAR-2 relies on polarisation measurements and, for the first time will provide these…
PoGOLino is a balloon-borne scintillator-based experiment developed to study the largely unexplored high altitude neutron environment at high geomagnetic latitudes. The instrument comprises two detectors that make use of LiCAF, a novel…
The Gamma RAy Polarimeter Experiment (GRAPE), a balloon borne Compton polarimeter for 50-500 keV gamma rays, was successfully flown for the second time in 2014. GRAPE consists of 24 collimated polarimeter modules. Each module is made up of…
X-Calibur is a balloon-borne telescope that measures the polarization of high-energy X-rays in the 15--50keV energy range. The instrument makes use of the fact that X-rays scatter preferentially perpendicular to the polarization direction.…
POLAR is a compact wide-field space-borne detector for precise measurements of the linear polarisation of hard X-rays emitted by transient sources in the energy range from 50 keV to 500 keV. It consists of a 40$\times$40 array of plastic…
X-ray polarimetry has great scientific potential and new experiments, such as X-Calibur, PoGOLite, XIPE, and GEMS, will not only be orders of magnitude more sensitive than previous missions, but also provide the capability to measure…
Application of cubesats in astronomical observations has been getting more and more mature in recent years. Here we report a concept study of a small Compton polarimeter to fly on a cubesat for observing polarization of soft gamma-rays from…
POLAR-2 is a dedicated gamma-ray polarimeter currently foreseen to be launched towards the China Space Station around 2027. The design of the detector is based on the legacy of its predecessor mission POLAR which was launched in 2016.…
Synchrotron radiation facilities provide highly polarized X-ray beams across a wide energy range. However, the exact type and degree of polarization varies according to the beamline and experimental setup. To accurately determine the angle…
The constantly improving sensitivity of ground-based and space-borne observatories has made possible the detection of high-energy emission (X-rays and gamma-rays) from several thousands of extragalactic sources. Enormous progress has been…
Gamma-Ray Bursts are among the most powerful and violent events in the Universe. Despite over half a century of observations of these transient sources, many open questions remain about their nature and the physical emission mechanisms at…
BaR-SPOrt (Balloon-borne Radiometers for Sky Polarisation Observations) is an experiment to measure the linearly polarized emission of sky patches at 32 and 90 GHz with sub-degree angular resolution. It is equipped with high sensitivity…
Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are among the most energetic events in the Universe. Despite over 50 years of research and measurements their prompt emission remains poorly understood, with key questions surrounding the structure of relativistic…