The X-ray CCD camera of the MAXI experiment on the ISS/JEM

Abstract

Monitor of All-sky X-ray Image (MAXI), is the X-ray observatory on the Japanese experimental module (JEM) Exposed Facility (EF) on the International Space Station (ISS). MAXI is a slit scanning camera which consists of two kinds of X-ray detectors: one is a one-dimensional position-sensitive proportional counter with a total area of ∼5000 cm 2 , the Gas Slit Camera (GSC), and the other is an X-ray CCD array with a total area of ∼200 cm 2 , the Solid-state Slit Camera (SSC). The GSC subtends a field of view with an angular dimension of 1°×180° while the SSC subtends a field of view with an angular dimension of 1° times a little less than 180°. In the course of one station orbit, MAXI can scan almost the entire sky with a precision of 1° and with an X-ray energy range of 0.5–30 keV. We have developed the engineering model of CCD chips and the analogue electronics for the SSC. The energy resolution of EM CCD for Mn K α has a full-width at half-maximum of ≃182 eV. Readout noise is ≃11 e − rms.