X-Ray spectroscopy and timing (XSPECT) experiment on XPoSat -- instrument configuration and science prospects

Abstract

X-ray Polarimeter Satellite (XPoSat) with POLarimeter Instrument in X-rays (POLIX), is India's first spacecraft dedicated to study medium energy X-ray polarisation from celestial objects. X-Ray Spectroscopy and Timing (XSPECT) instrument on XPoSat is configured to study long term spectral behaviour of select sources in Soft X-ray regime. The instrument uses Swept Charge Devices (SCD)s to provide large area and spectral performance with passive cooling arrangement. The instrument consists of set of collimators with two different FOVs, optical light blocking filters, and signal processing electronics. The instrument was designed, tested and calibrated on ground. The unique opportunity is provided by ISRO's XPoSat mission, where a source is observed for longer duration. The device used also enables spectroscopy study of brighter sources compared to the CCD based spectrometers. The first results demonstrate instrument capability for spectral studies in the 0.8 keV-15 keV energy band.