Measurement of X-ray Photon Energy and Arrival Time Using a Silicon Drift Detector

TL;DR

This paper presents a silicon drift detector system capable of accurately measuring X-ray photon energy and arrival time, enhancing autonomous pulsar navigation by improving signal-to-noise ratio in photon detection.

Contribution

The work introduces a novel measurement system combining silicon drift detectors with processing units for precise photon energy and timing measurement in pulsar navigation.

Findings

High energy resolution achieved in photon detection

Effective noise reduction in pulse profile acquisition

System suitable for autonomous X-ray pulsar navigation

Abstract

Detecting the X-ray radialization of pulsars and obtaining the photons' time of arrival are the foundation steps in autonomous navigation via X-ray pulsar measurement. The precision of a pulse' s time of arrival is mainly decided by the precision of photon arrival time. In this work, a silicon drift detector is used to measure photon energy and arrival time. The measurement system consists of a signal detector, a processing unit, a signal acquisition unit, and a data receiving unit. This system acquires the energy resolution and arrival time information of photons. In particular, when background noise with different energies disturbs epoch folding, the system can acquire a high signal-to-noise ratio pulse profile. Ground test results show that this system can be applied in autonomous navigation using X-ray pulsar measurement as payload.