X-Ray Detector Development and Investigation of the Energetics of Celestial X-Ray Sources

摘要

The development of a system for the detection of ultra-soft x rays in the energy range 0.100 to 0.300 keV is reported herein. The system, using grazing incidence optics and thin window gas-flow proportional counters to filter and collect low energy x rays, was designed as the payload of an Aerobee sounding rocket. It was successfully flown, on February 13, 1970, to measure the absolute intensity of the diffuse x-ray background at 0.25 keV. Further work in x-ray polarimetry and especially the results of a rocket experiment in March 1969 to measure the polarization of the x-ray source Tau X-1 are discussed. (Author)