Calibration of the MaGIXS experiment II: Flight Instrument Calibration

TL;DR

This paper details the calibration process of the MaGIXS solar X-ray spectrometer, including wavelength calibration, line spread function measurement, and effective area determination, to ensure accurate solar observations from a sounding rocket.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive calibration of the MaGIXS instrument, enabling precise solar X-ray measurements from its flight observations.

Findings

Successful wavelength calibration achieved

Line spread function characterized accurately

Effective area determined for data analysis

Abstract

The Marshall Grazing Incidence X-ray Spectrometer (MaGIXS) is a sounding rocket experiment that observes the soft X-ray spectrum of the Sun from 6.0 - 24 Angstrom (0.5 - 2.0 keV), successfully launched on 30 July 2021. End-to-end alignment of the flight instrument and calibration experiments are carried out using the X-ray and Cryogenic Facility (XRCF) at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center. In this paper, we present the calibration experiments of MaGIXS, which include wavelength calibration, measurement of line spread function, and determination of effective area. Finally, we use the measured instrument response function to predict the expected count rates for MaGIXS flight observation looking at a typical solar active region