3,682 research outputs found
Using ACIS on the Chandra X-ray Observatory as a particle radiation monitor
The Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer (ACIS) is one of two focal-plane
instruments on the Chandra X-ray Observatory. During initial radiation-belt
passes, the exposed ACIS suffered significant radiation damage from trapped
soft protons scattering off the x-ray telescope's mirrors. The primary effect
of this damage was to increase the charge-transfer inefficiency (CTI) of the
ACIS 8 front-illuminated CCDs. Subsequently, the Chandra team implemented
procedures to remove the ACIS from the telescope's focus during high-radiation
events: planned protection during radiation-belt transits; autonomous
protection triggered by an on-board radiation monitor; and manual intervention
based upon assessment of space-weather conditions. However, as Chandra's
multilayer insulation ages, elevated temperatures have reduced the
effectiveness of the on-board radiation monitor for autonomous protection. Here
we investigate using the ACIS CCDs themselves as a radiation monitor. We
explore the 10-year database to evaluate the CCDs' response to particle
radiation and to compare this response with other radiation data and
environment models.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Proc. SPIE vol. 773
Statistical Uncertainties in Temperature Diagnostics for Hot Coronal Plasma Using the ASCA SIS
Statistical uncertainties in determining the temperatures of hot (0.5 keV to
10 keV) coronal plasmas are investigated. The statistical precision of various
spectral temperature diagnostics is established by analyzing synthetic ASCA
Solid-state Imaging Spectrometer (SIS) CCD spectra. The diagnostics considered
are the ratio of hydrogen-like to helium-like line complexes of
elements, line-free portions of the continuum, and the entire spectrum. While
fits to the entire spectrum yield the highest statistical precision, it is
argued that fits to the line-free continuum are less susceptible to atomic data
uncertainties but lead to a modest increase in statistical uncertainty over
full spectral fits. Temperatures deduced from line ratios can have similar
accuracy but only over a narrow range of temperatures. Convenient estimates of
statistical accuracies for the various temperature diagnostics are provided
which may be used in planning ASCA SIS observations.Comment: postscript file of 8 pages+3 figures; 4 files tarred, compressed and
uuencoded. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal Letters; contents copyright
1994 American Astronomical Societ
Using ACIS on the Chandra X-ray Observatory as a particle radiation monitor II
The Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer is an instrument on the Chandra X-ray
Observatory. CCDs are vulnerable to radiation damage, particularly by soft
protons in the radiation belts and solar storms. The Chandra team has
implemented procedures to protect ACIS during high-radiation events including
autonomous protection triggered by an on-board radiation monitor. Elevated
temperatures have reduced the effectiveness of the on-board monitor. The ACIS
team has developed an algorithm which uses data from the CCDs themselves to
detect periods of high radiation and a flight software patch to apply this
algorithm is currently active on-board the instrument. In this paper, we
explore the ACIS response to particle radiation through comparisons to a number
of external measures of the radiation environment. We hope to better understand
the efficiency of the algorithm as a function of the flux and spectrum of the
particles and the time-profile of the radiation event.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Proc. SPIE 8443, "Space
Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray
"Supersolid" self-bound Bose condensates via laser-induced interatomic forces
We show that the dipole-dipole interatomic forces induced by a single
off-resonant running laser beam can lead to a self-bound pencil-shaped Bose
condensate, even if the laser beam is a plane-wave. For an appropriate laser
intensity the ground state has a quasi-one dimensional density modulation --- a
Bose "supersolid".Comment: 4 pages, 3 eps figure
Measurements with the Chandra X-Ray Observatory's flight contamination monitor
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory includes a Flight Contamination Monitor
(FCM), a system of 16 radioactive calibration sources mounted to the inside of
the Observatory's forward contamination cover. The purpose of the FCM is to
verify the ground-to-orbit transfer of the Chandra flux scale, through
comparison of data acquired during the ground calibration with those obtained
in orbit, immediately prior to opening the Observatory's sun-shade door. Here
we report results of these measurements, which place limits on the change in
mirror--detector system response and, hence, on any accumulation of molecular
contamination on the mirrors' iridium-coated surfaces.Comment: 7pages,8figures,for SPIE 4012, paper 7
COMPASS: a 2.6m telescope for CMBR polarization studies
COMPASS (COsmic Microwave Polarization at Small Scale) is an experiment devoted to measuring the polarization of the CMBR. Its design and characteristics are presented
Classical versus quantum dynamics of the atomic Josephson junction
We compare the classical (mean-field) dynamics with the quantum dynamics of
atomic Bose-Einstein condensates in double-well potentials. The quantum
dynamics are computed using a simple scheme based upon the Raman-Nath
equations. Two different methods for exciting a non-equilbrium state are
considered: an asymmetry between the wells which is suddenly removed, and a
periodic time oscillating asymmetry. The first method generates wave packets
that lead to collapses and revivals of the expectation values of the
macroscopic variables, and we calculate the time scale for these revivals. The
second method permits the excitation of a single energy eigenstate of the
many-particle system, including Schroedinger cat states. We also discuss a band
theory interpretation of the energy level structure of an asymmetric
double-well, thereby identifying analogies to Bloch oscillations and Bragg
resonances. Both the Bloch and Bragg dynamics are purely quantum and are not
contained in the mean-field treatment.Comment: 31 pages, 14 figure
Mathematical Formalism for Designing Wide-Field X-Ray Telescopes: Mirror Nodal Positions and Detector Tilts
We provide a mathematical formalism for optimizing the mirror nodal positions along the optical axis and the tilt of a commonly employed detector configuration at the focus of a x-ray telescope consisting of nested mirror shells with known mirror surface prescriptions. We adopt the spatial resolution averaged over the field-of-view as the figure of merit M. A more complete description appears in our paper in these proceedings
Concerning the Development of the Wide-Field Optics for WFXT Including Methods of Optimizing X-Ray Optical Prescriptions for Wide-Field Applications
We present a progress report on the various endeavors we are undertaking at MSFC in support of the Wide Field X-Ray Telescope development. In particular we discuss assembly and alignment techniques, in-situ polishing corrections, and the results of our efforts to optimize mirror prescriptions including polynomial coefficients, relative shell displacements, detector placements and tilts. This optimization does not require a blind search through the multi-dimensional parameter space. Under the assumption that the parameters are small enough so that second order expansions are valid, we show that the performance at the detector can be expressed as a quadratic function with numerical coefficients derived from a ray trace through the underlying Wolter I optic. The optimal values for the parameters are found by solving the linear system of equations creating by setting derivatives of this function with respect to each parameter to zero
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