Abstract
In-orbit experience has shown that soft protons are funneled more efficiently through focusing Wolter-type optics of X-ray observatories than simulations predicted. These protons can degrade the performance of solid-state X-ray detectors and contribute to the instrumental background. Since laboratory measurements of the scattering process are rare, an experiment for grazing angles has been set up at the accelerator facility of the University of Tübingen. Systematic measurements at incidence angles ranging from 0.3° to 1.2° with proton energies around 250 keV, 500 keV, and 1 MeV have been carried out. Parts of spare mirror shells of the eROSITA (extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array) instrument have been used as scattering targets. This publication comprises a detailed description of the setup, the calibration and normalization methods, and the scattering efficiency and energy loss results. A comparison of the results with a theoretical scattering description and with simulations is included as well.
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Notes
Part of the SRIM package; http://www.srim.org
The scattering angle has been transformed to match the convention used in this study.
Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica
Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics
Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics
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Acknowledgments
This work is partially supported by the Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie through the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (Grant FKZ 50 OO 1110).
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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interests.
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Diebold, S., Tenzer, C., Perinati, E. et al. Soft proton scattering efficiency measurements on x-ray mirror shells. Exp Astron 39, 343–365 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-015-9451-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10686-015-9451-4