Related papers: CdZnTe Background Measurement at Balloon Altitudes
We present results from the flight of two prototype CZT detectors on a scientific balloon payload in September 2000. The first detector, referred to as ``CZT1,'' consisted of a 10 mm x 10 mm x 2 mm CZT crystal with a single gold planar…
We report detector characteristics and background measurements from two prototype imaging CZT detectors flown on a scientific balloon payload in May 2001. The detectors are both platinum-contact 10mm x 10mm x 5mm CZT crystals, each with a 4…
We report on the design and laboratory testing of a prototype imaging CZT detector intended for balloon flight testing in April 2000. The detector tests several key techniques needed for the construction of large-area CZT arrays, as…
We have modelled the hard X-ray background expected for a high-altitude balloon flight of the Energetic X-ray Telescope Experiment (EXITE2), an imaging phoswich detector/telescope for the 20--600 keV energy range. Photon and neutron-induced…
One of the key aspects of a detector material for space-borne hard X-ray and gamma-ray telescopes is the rate of prompt and delayed background events generated inside the material by charged and neutral particles striking the detector.…
Background rates in several pixel array detectors are investigated with an eye toward using them with hard, >6 keV, x-rays in very low-rate experiments - e.g. at signal rates <0.1/s/cm^2. Measured background event rates for a detector with…
We successfully carried out the first high-altitude balloon flight of a wide-field hard X-ray coded-aperture telescope ProtoEXIST1, which was launched from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility at Ft. Sumner, New Mexico on October 9,…
We present the tests performed by the SIDDHARTA-2 collaboration at the DA{\Phi}NE collider with a quasi-hemispherical CdZnTe detector. The very good room-temperature energy resolution and efficiency in a wide energy range show that this…
In the field of Double Beta Decay (DBD) searches the possibility to have high resolution detectors in which background can be discriminated is very appealing. This very interesting possibility can be largely fulfilled in the case of a…
We report on the construction and laboratory testing of pixellated CZT detectors mounted in a flip-chip, tiled fashion and read out by an ASIC, as required for proposed hard X-ray astronomy missions. Two 10 mm x 10 mm x 5 mm detectors were…
We performed a detailed modelling of the background counts observed in a phoswich scintillator X-ray detector at balloon altitude, used for astronomical observations, on board small scientific balloon. We used Monte Carlo simulation…
Several payloads for hard X-ray (20-600 keV) imaging with coded aperture telescopes have been developed for balloon flight observations of cosmic x-ray sources. We briefly review the characteristics of these, particularly the EXITE2 system.…
LXeGRIT is the first prototype of a novel Compton telescope for MeV gamma-ray astrophysics based on a Liquid Xenon Time Projection Chamber (LXeTPC), sensitive in the energy band of 0.15-10 MeV. In this homogeneous, 3D position sensitive…
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…
An extremely low-background environment is a crucial requirement for any neutrinoless double beta decay experiment. Neutrons are very difficult to stop, because they can pass through the shields and activate nuclei in the detector, even…
The Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD), to be deployed onboard the {\it ASTRO-H} satellite, has been developed to provide the highest sensitivity observations of celestial sources in the energy band of 60-600~keV by employing a detector concept…
PoGOLite is a hard X-ray polarimeter operating in the 25-100 keV energy band. The instrument design is optimised for the observation of compact astrophysical sources. Observations are conducted from a stabilised stratospheric balloon…
PoGOLino is a scintillator-based neutron detector. Its main purpose is to provide data on the neutron flux in the upper stratosphere at high latitudes at thermal and nonthermal energies for the PoGOLite instrument. PoGOLite is a balloon…
We describe a new balloon-borne instrument (PoGOLite) capable of detecting 10% polarisation from 200mCrab point-like sources between 25 and 80keV in one 6 hour flight. Polarisation measurements in the soft gamma-ray band are expected to…
High-purity germanium detectors are well suited to analysis the radioactivity of samples. In order to reduce the environmental background, low-activity lead and oxygen free copper are installed outside of the probe to shield gammas, outmost…