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

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.