This is a past event.

Dr. Clio Sleator, Astrophysicist at U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, will give a talk on Friday, Dec 8th at 3:00 pm In M&M U115. (NOT THE REGULAR ROOM THAT EPSSI SEMINARS ARE HELD IN)

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager telescope for gamma ray astronomy: from balloon to satellite

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a NASA Small Explorer telescope designed to study MeV astrophysics, slated for launch in 2027. COSI’s main science goals include mapping the Galactic 511 keV emission as well as mapping radioactive elements from nucleosynthesis, studying sources geometries and magnetic fields of compact objects through polarization measurements, and participating in multimessenger astrophysics via detection and study of gamma ray bursts. The heart of COSI consists of 16 high purity germanium double-side strip detectors, through which we can perform imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry of astrophysical sources by precisely measuring the position and energy deposited during each photon interaction. Before being selected as a NASA Small Explorer mission, COSI flew on a high altitude scientific balloon launched from Wanaka, New Zealand in 2016. In this talk, I will discuss the astrophysics we can do with COSI, as well as the instrument changes needed to go from a balloon-borne mission to a satellite mission. I will focus on NRL’s contributions to the instrument, which consist of the front-end application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to read out the germanium detectors as well as the anticoincidence shield. Lastly, I will give a brief overview of some of the other gamma ray detection and instrumentation work ongoing at NRL.