High energy X-ray telescope (HE) is one of the three instruments of Insight-HXMT(Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope) payload. The HE detector (HED) array is composed of 18 actively NaI(Tl)/CsI(Na) phoswich scintillators with a total geometric area of ~ 5100cm^2 and cover the energy range 20-250 keV. In this paper we describe the on-ground detector-level calibration campaigns and present the principal instrument properties of HEDs.
The CsI detectors of the High Energy X-ray Telescope of the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope (HXMT/CsI) can be used for gamma-ray all sky monitoring and searching for the electromagnetic counterpart of gravitational wave source. The instrumental respo
nses are mainly obtained by Monte Carlo simulation with the Geant4 tool and the mass model of both the satellite and all the payloads, which is updated and tested with the Crab pulse emission in various incident directions. Both the Energy-Channel relationship and the energy resolution are calibrated in two working modes (Normal-Gain mode & Low-Gain Mode) with the different detection energy ranges. The simulative spectral analyses show that HXMT/CsI can constrain the spectral parameters much better in the high energy band than that in the low energy band. The joint spectral analyses are performed to ten bright GRBs observed simultaneously with HXMT/CsI and other instruments (Fermi/GBM, Swift/BAT, Konus-Wind), and the results show that the GRB flux given by HXMT/CsI is systematically higher by $7.0pm8.8%$ than those given by the other instruments. The HXMT/CsI-Fermi/GBM joint fittings also show that the high energy spectral parameter can be constrained much better as the HXMT/CsI data are used in the joint fittings.
Three high energy particle monitors (HPMs) employed onboard the Hard X-ray Modulation Telescope Insight-HXMT) can detect the charged particles from South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) and hence provide the alert trigger for switch-on/off of the main detecto
rs. Here a typical design of HPM with high stability and reliability is adopted by taking a plastic scintillator coupled with a small photomultiplier tube (PMT). The window threshold of HPM is designed as 1 MeV and 20 MeV for the incident electron and proton, respectively. Before the launch of Insight-HXMT, we performed in details the ground calibration of HPM. The measured energy response and its dependence on temperature are taken as essential input of Geant4 simulation for estimating the HPM count rate given with an incident particle energy spectrum. This serves as a guidance for choosing a reasonable working range of the PMT high voltage once the real SAA count rate is measured by HPM in orbit. So far the three HPMs have been working in orbit for more than two years. Apart from providing reliable alert trigger, the HPMs data are used as well to map the SAA region.
A system based on commercially available items, such as a laser diode, emitting in the visible range $sim 400$ nm,and multimode fiber patches, fused fiber splitters and optical switches may be assembled,for time calibration of multi-channels time-of-
flight (TOF) detectors with photomultipliers (PMTs) readout. As available laser diode sources have unfortunately limited peak power, the main experimental problem is the tight light power budget of such a system. In addition, while the technology for fused fiber splitters is common in the Telecom wavelength range ($lambda sim 850, 1300-1500$ nm), it is not easily available in the visible one. Therefore, extensive laboratory tests had to be done on purpose, to qualify the used optical components, and a full scale timing calibration prototype was built. Obtained results show that with such a system, a calibration resolution ($sigma$) in the range 20-30 ps may be within reach. Therefore, fast multi-channels TOF detectors, with timing resolutions in the range 50-100 ps, may be easily calibrated in time. Results on tested optical components may be of interest also for time calibration of different light detection systems based on PMTs, as the ones used for detection of the vacuum ultraviolet scintillation light emitted by ionizing particles in large LAr TPCs.
This article reports the characterization of two High Purity Germanium detectors performed by extracting and comparing their efficiencies using experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations. The efficiencies were calculated for pointlike $gamma$-ray
sources as well as for extended calibration sources. Characteristics of the detectors such as energy linearity, energy resolution, and full energy peak efficiencies are reported from measurements performed on surface laboratories. The detectors will be deployed in a $gamma$-ray assay facility that will be located in the first underground laboratory in Mexico, Laboratorio Subterraneo de Mineral del Chico (LABChico), in the Comarca Minera UNESCO Global Geopark
The muon detection system of the Compact Muon Solenoid experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider is based on different technologies for muon tracking and triggering. In particular, the muon system in the endcap disks of the detector consists of Re
sistive Plate Chambers for triggering and Cathode Strip Chambers for tracking. At present, the endcap muon system is only partially instrumented with the very forward detector region remaining uncovered. In view of a possible future extension of the muon endcap system, we report on a feasibility study on the use of Micro-Pattern Gas Detectors, in particular Gas Electron Multipliers, for both muon triggering and tracking. Results on the construction and characterization of small tripleGas Electron Multiplier prototype detectors are presented.