Related papers: The X-ray Polarization Probe mission concept
The Gas Pixel Detector was designed and built as a focal plane instrument for X-ray polarimetry of celestial sources, the last unexplored subtopics of X-ray astronomy. It promises to perform detailed and sensitive measurements resolving…
POLAR is a compact space-borne detector designed to perform reliable measurements of the polarization for transient sources like Gamma-Ray Bursts in the energy range 50-500keV. The instrument works based on the Compton Scattering principle…
The scientific potential of X-ray polarimetry has long been recognized, but the challenges in measuring polarization have left it largely unexplored, particularly in the hard X-ray regime. While tremendous advancement has been made in soft…
We present a method for enhancing the sensitivity of X-ray telescopic observations with imaging polarimeters, with a focus on the gas pixel detectors (GPDs) to be flown on the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE). Our analysis…
We have developed a polarized hard X-ray photoemission (HAXPES) system to study the ground-state symmetry of strongly correlated materials. The linear polarization of the incoming X-ray beam is switched by the transmission-type phase…
The Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) is a new generation device which, thanks to its 50 um pixels, is capable of imaging the photoelectrons tracks produced by photoelectric absorption in a gas. Since the direction of emission of the photoelectrons…
X-ray polarimetry offers a unique window into neutron star physics and can provide answers to questions that cannot otherwise be probed. The up-and-coming REDSoX sounding rocket mission will be the first experiment equipped with a detector…
We report measurements of the linear polarisation degree (PD) and angle (PA) for hard X-ray emission from the Crab pulsar and wind nebula. Measurements were made with the XL-Calibur ($\sim$15-80 keV) balloon-borne Compton-scattering…
X-ray polarization is a powerful tool to investigate the geometry of accreting material around black holes, allowing independent measurements of the black hole spin and orientation of the innermost parts of the accretion disk. We perform…
High-sensitivity X-ray polarimetric observations of black hole X-ray binaries, which will soon become available with the launches of space-borne X-ray observatories with sensitive X-ray polarimeters, will be able to put independent…
It has long been recognised that quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in the X-ray light curves of accreting black hole and neutron star binaries have the potential to be powerful diagnostics of strong field gravity. However, this potential…
The hard X-ray emission from magnetars and other isolated neutron stars remains under-explored. An instrument with higher sensitivity to hard X-rays is critical to understanding the physics of neutron star magnetospheres and also the…
Large energy-dependent X-ray polarization degree is detected by the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer ({IXPE}) in the high-soft emission state of the black hole X-ray binary 4U 1630--47. The highly significant detection (at…
X-rays astrophysical sources have been almost exclusively characterized through imaging, spectroscopy and timing analysis. Nevertheless, more observational parameters are needed because some radiation mechanisms present in neutrons stars or…
The design and the simulated performances of a compact detector dedicated to the measurement of GRB photon polarization is presented. Such a detector would permit to answer the question ``are most of the GRB strongly polarized?'' in a…
The upcoming launch of the first space based X-ray polarimeter in $\sim 40$ years will provide powerful new diagnostic information to study accreting compact objects. In particular, analysis of rapid variability of the polarisation degree…
The XEUS mission incorporates two satellites: the Mirror Spacecraft with 5 m2 of collecting area at 1 keV and 2 m2 at 7 keV, and an imaging resolution of 5" HEW and the Payload Spacecraft which carries the focal plane instrumentation. XEUS…
Imaging X-ray polarimetry with IXPE has demonstrated the scientific potential of the technique but also revealed the need for significant detector upgrades, particularly with the read-out ASIC that images photoelectron tracks and possibly…
We are developing instrumentation for a telescope design capable of measuring linear X-ray polarization over a broad-band using conventional spectroscopic optics. Multilayer-coated mirrors are key to this approach, being used as Bragg…
X-ray polarimetry of solar flares is still a not well established field of observation of our star. Past polarimeters were not able to measure with a high significance the polarization in X-rays from solar flares. Moreover, they had no…