FOXSI-2: Upgrades of the Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager for its Second Flight

Abstract

The Focusing Optics X-ray Solar Imager (FOXSI) sounding rocket payload flew for the second time on 2014 December 11. To enable direct Hard X-Ray (HXR) imaging spectroscopy, FOXSI makes use of grazing-incidence replicated focusing optics combined with fine-pitch solid-state detectors. FOXSI's first flight provided the first HXR focused images of the Sun. For FOXSI's second flight several updates were made to the instrument including updating the optics and detectors as well as adding a new Solar Aspect and Alignment System (SAAS). This paper provides an overview of these updates as well as a discussion of their measured performance.

arXiv comment12 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables

References in corpus (6)

• The Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Mission
• High energy resolution hard X-ray and gamma-ray imagers using CdTe diode devices
• The Si/CdTe semiconductor Compton camera of the ASTRO-H Soft Gamma-ray Detector (SGD)
• The sub-arcsecond hard X-ray structure of loop footpoints in a solar flare
• Constraining Hot Plasma in a Non-flaring Solar Active Region with FOXSI Hard X-ray Observations
• Fine-pitch semiconductor detector for the FOXSI mission

Cited by in corpus (14)

• The First Focused Hard X-ray Images of the Sun with NuSTAR
• Statistical Signatures of Nanoflare Activity. I. Monte Carlo Simulations and Parameter-space Exploration
• FOXSI-2 Solar Microflares I : Multi-instrument Differential Emission Measure Analysis and Thermal Energies
• FOXSI-2 Solar Microflares II: Hard X-ray Imaging Spectroscopy and Flare Energetics
• Solar Active Region Heating Diagnostics from High Temperature Emission using the Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS)
• On the faintest solar coronal hard X-rays observed with FOXSI
• Use of a ray-tracing simulation to characterize ghost rays in the FOXSI rocket experiment
• Characterization of silicon microstrip sensors for space astronomy
• Automatic Detection of Occulted Hard X-ray Flares Using Deep-Learning Methods
• Energy distribution of small-scale flares derived using genetic algorithm
• The need for focused, hard X-ray investigations of the Sun
• Imaging and Spectral Performance of a Wide-gap CdTe Double-Sided Strip Detector
• Evaluating Pointing Strategies for Future Solar Flare Missions
• Pre-flare and active region plasma flows and structure seen by the short wavelength camera on SOLAR-C/EUVST