Related papers: Proportional counters and microchannel plates
Background. Relative astrometry at or below the micro-arcsec level with a 1m class space telescope has been repeatedly proposed as a tool for exo-planet detection and characterization, as well as for several topics at the forefront of…
The Closeby Habitable Exoplanet Survey (CHES) aims to achieve microarcsecond-level astrometry of about one hundred nearby FGK-type stars within 10 parsecs to detect Earth-like planets. Such precision exceeds the capability of absolute…
Chromatic properties of the multi-prism and prism-array X-ray lenses (MPL and PAL) can potentially be utilized for efficient energy filtering and dose reduction in mammography. The line-shaped foci of the lenses are optimal for coupling to…
The maturity of current detectors based on technologies that range from solid state to gases renewed the interest for X-ray polarimetry, raising the enthusiasm of a wide scientific community to improve the performance of polarimeters as…
Optically read out gaseous detectors are used in track reconstruction and imaging applications requiring high granularity images. Among resolution-determining factors, the amplification stage plays a crucial role and optimisations of…
We have developed a position response calibration method for a micro-channel plate (MCP) detector with a delay-line anode position readout scheme. Using an {\em in situ} calibration mask, an accuracy of 8~$\mu$m and a resolution of…
The development of gaseous detectors has been exciting again since the appearance of a MicroStrip Gas Chamber(MSGC) in 1988, which is made using a micro-electronics technology. These days lots of variations of the advanced gaseous detectors…
I summarize the excitement of my role primarily in the early years of X-ray Astronomy. As a "second-generation" X-ray astronomer, I was privileged to participate in the enormous advance of the field, both technically and astrophysically,…
A novel large volume spherical proportional counter, recently developed, is used for neutron measurements. Gas mixtures of $N_{2}$ with $C_{2}H_{6}$ and pure $N_{2}$ are studied for thermal and fast neutron detection, providing a new way…
Micro-channel-plate-based photo-detectors are unique in being capable of covering areas of many square-meters while providing sub-millimeter space resolution, time resolutions of less than 10 picoseconds for charged particles, time…
In the last few years our group have focused on developing various designs of spark-protected micropattern gaseous detectors featuring resistive electrodes instead of the traditional metallic ones: resistive microstrip counters, resistive…
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…
X-ray polarimetry promises to give qualitatively new information about high-energy astrophysical sources, such as binary black hole systems, micro-quasars, active galactic nuclei, neutron stars, and gamma-ray bursts. We designed, built and…
We propose a novel idea to discover millicharged particles (mCPs) captured by the earth during its existence. It has been demonstrated that the mCPs accumulation inside the earth leads to the enhancement of its number density much larger…
X-ray Polarimetry is almost as old as X-ray Astronomy. Since the first discovery of X-ray sources theoretical analysis suggested that a high degree of linear polarization could be expected due either to the, extremely non thermal, emission…
Current large-aperture cosmic microwave background (CMB) telescopes have nearly maximized the number of detectors that can be illuminated while maintaining diffraction-limited image quality. The polarization-sensitive detector arrays being…
Hundreds of concurrent collisions per bunch crossing are expected at future hadron colliders. Precision timing calorimetry has been advocated as a way to mitigate the pileup effects and, thanks to their excellent time resolution,…
X-ray diffraction gratings play an essential role in high-resolution spectroscopy of astrophysical phenomena. We present some scientific highlights from the X-ray grating spectrometers (XGS) on board of the Chandra and XMM/Newton missions,…
With its large effective area at hard X-rays, high time resolution and having co-aligned other instruments, AstroSat/LAXPC was designed to usher in a new era in rapid variability studies and wide spectral band measurements of the X-ray…
Development of ultra low background gas proportional counters has made the contribution from naturally occurring radioactive isotopes -- primarily $\alpha$ and $\beta$ activity in the uranium and thorium decay chains -- inconsequential to…