[Previous] | [Session 33] | [Next]
S. E. Boggs, W. Coburn, R. P. Lin, D. M. Smith (SSL, UC, Berkeley), M. Amman, P. N. Luke (LBNL), P. Jean, P. von Ballmoos (Centre d'Etude Spatiale des Rayonnements, CNRS/UPS, France), M. T. Burks, W. Craig, N. W. Madden, K. Ziock (LLNLL)
Our collaboration is developing a 2-detector prototype high resolution Compton telescope utilizing 3D imaging germanium detectors (GeDs) for a test balloon flight in 2003. This instrument is a prototype for a full 12-GeD instrument, the Nuclear Compton Telescope. NCT is a balloon-borne soft gamma-ray (0.2-15 MeV) telescope designed to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission and polarization. The NCT program is designed to develop and test the technologies and analysis techniques crucial for the Advanced Compton Telescope, while studying gamma-ray radiation with very high spectral resolution, moderate angular resolution, and high sensitivity. NCT has a novel, ultra-compact design optimized for studying nuclear line emission in the critical 0.5-2 MeV range, and polarization in the 0.2-0.5 MeV range. This prototype flight will critically test the novel instrument technologies, analysis techniques, and background rejection procedures we have developed for high resolution Compton telescopes. We will present the design, status, and expected performance of this prototype NCT instrument. This project is funded under the NASA SR&T program.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: boggs@ssl.berkeley.edu
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society,
35#2
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.