Development of the wide field imager for Athena

Date Issued
2015
Author(s)
Meidinger, Norbert
•
Eder, Josef
•
Fürmetz, Maria
•
Nandra, Kirpal
•
Pietschner, Daniel
•
Plattner, Markus
•
Rau, Arne
•
Reiffers, Jonas
•
Strecker, Rafael
•
•
Brand, Thorsten
•
Wilms, Jörn
DOI
Abstract
The WFI (Wide Field Imager) instrument is planned to be one of two complementary focal plane cameras on ESA's next X-ray observatory Athena. It combines unprecedented survey power through its large field of view of 40 arcmin x 40 arcmin together with excellent count-rate capability (>= 1 Crab). The energy resolution of the silicon sensor is state-of-the-art in the energy band of interest from 0.2 keV to 15 keV, e.g. the full width at half maximum of a line at 6 keV will be <= 150 eV until the end of the nominal mission phase. This performance is accomplished by using DEPFET active pixel sensors with a pixel size of 130 μm x 130 μm well suited to the on-axis angular resolution of 5 arcsec of the mirror system. Each DEPFET pixel is a combined detector-amplifier structure with a MOSFET integrated onto a fully depleted 450 μm thick silicon bulk. Two different types of DEPFET sensors are planned for the WFI instrument: A set of four large-area sensors to cover the physical size of 14 cm x 14 cm in the focal plane and a single smaller gateable DEPFET sensor matrix optimized for high count-rate observations. Here we present the conceptual design of the instrument with focus on the critical subsystems and describe the instrument performance expectations. An outline of the model philosophy and the project organization completes the presentation.
Coverage
UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XIX
All editors
Siegmund, Oswald H.
Series
Volume
9601
Start page
96010H
Conferenece
UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XIX
Conferenece place
San Diego, California, United States
Conferenece date
9 -13 August, 2015
Uri
Url
Issn Identifier
0277-786X
Ads BibCode
2015SPIE.9601E..0HM
Rights
open.access
File(s)
Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Name

96010H.pdf

Description
Pdf editoriale
Size

2.48 MB

Format

Adobe PDF

Checksum (MD5)

18959a6c134866079239096a12a84ca6