Prototype Development and Calibration of the CUbesat Solar Polarimeter (CUSP)
Fuente:
arXiv
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1866914066154389504 |
|---|---|
| author | De Angelis, Nicolas Kumar, Abhay Fabiani, Sergio Del Monte, Ettore Costa, Enrico Lombardi, Giovanni Soffitta, Paolo Alimenti, Andrea Campana, Riccardo Centrone, Mauro De Cesare, Giovanni Di Cosimo, Sergio Di Persio, Giuseppe Lacerenza, Alessandro Loffredo, Pasqualino Minervini, Gabriele Muleri, Fabio Romano, Paolo Rubini, Alda Scalise, Emanuele Silva, Enrico Albanesi, Davide Baffo, Ilaria Brienza, Daniele Campamaggiore, Valerio Cucinella, Giovanni Curatolo, Andrea de Iulis, Giulia Del Re, Andrea Di Bari, Vito Di Filippo, Simone Donnarumma, Immacolata Fanelli, Pierluigi Gagliardi, Nicolas Leonetti, Paolo Merge, Matteo Modenini, Dario Negri, Andrea Pecorella, Daniele Perelli, Massimo Ponti, Alice Sbop, Francesca Tortora, Paolo Turchi, Alessandro Vagelli, Valerio Zaccagnino, Emanuele Zambardi, Alessandro Zazza, Costantino |
| author_facet | De Angelis, Nicolas Kumar, Abhay Fabiani, Sergio Del Monte, Ettore Costa, Enrico Lombardi, Giovanni Soffitta, Paolo Alimenti, Andrea Campana, Riccardo Centrone, Mauro De Cesare, Giovanni Di Cosimo, Sergio Di Persio, Giuseppe Lacerenza, Alessandro Loffredo, Pasqualino Minervini, Gabriele Muleri, Fabio Romano, Paolo Rubini, Alda Scalise, Emanuele Silva, Enrico Albanesi, Davide Baffo, Ilaria Brienza, Daniele Campamaggiore, Valerio Cucinella, Giovanni Curatolo, Andrea de Iulis, Giulia Del Re, Andrea Di Bari, Vito Di Filippo, Simone Donnarumma, Immacolata Fanelli, Pierluigi Gagliardi, Nicolas Leonetti, Paolo Merge, Matteo Modenini, Dario Negri, Andrea Pecorella, Daniele Perelli, Massimo Ponti, Alice Sbop, Francesca Tortora, Paolo Turchi, Alessandro Vagelli, Valerio Zaccagnino, Emanuele Zambardi, Alessandro Zazza, Costantino |
| contents | The space-based CUbesat Solar Polarimeter (CUSP) mission aims to measure the linear polarization of solar flares in the hard X-ray band by means of a Compton scattering polarimeter. CUSP will allow to study the magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in the flaring magnetic structures of our star with its unprecedented sensitivity to solar flare polarization. CUSP is a project in the framework of the Alcor Program of the Italian Space Agency aimed to develop new CubeSat missions. It has been proposed as a constellation of a two Cubesat mission to monitor the Sun for Space Weather, and will proceed with a single-satellite asset in its baseline implementation.
In the frame of CUSP's Phase B study, that started in December 2024 for a 1-year period, we present the development status of this dual-phase polarimeter. Preliminary laboratory results using two chains of acquisition will be discussed. The first chain of acquisition, based on the Hamamatsu R7600 multi-anode photomultiplier tubes coupled to plastic scintillator bars and read out by the MAROC-3A ASIC, is used to detect the Compton scattering of incoming photons. On the other hand, GAGG crystals coupled to avalanche photo-diodes with a readout based on the SKIROC-2A ASIC are used to absorb the scattered photons. By reconstructing the azimuthal scattering direction for many incoming photons, one can infer the linear polarization degree and angle of the source. We will discuss the calibration results obtained with our prototype detector by using well-known radioactive isotopes, allowing us to assess the performances of our detector over the full 25-100 keV energy range. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_00642 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Prototype Development and Calibration of the CUbesat Solar Polarimeter (CUSP) De Angelis, Nicolas Kumar, Abhay Fabiani, Sergio Del Monte, Ettore Costa, Enrico Lombardi, Giovanni Soffitta, Paolo Alimenti, Andrea Campana, Riccardo Centrone, Mauro De Cesare, Giovanni Di Cosimo, Sergio Di Persio, Giuseppe Lacerenza, Alessandro Loffredo, Pasqualino Minervini, Gabriele Muleri, Fabio Romano, Paolo Rubini, Alda Scalise, Emanuele Silva, Enrico Albanesi, Davide Baffo, Ilaria Brienza, Daniele Campamaggiore, Valerio Cucinella, Giovanni Curatolo, Andrea de Iulis, Giulia Del Re, Andrea Di Bari, Vito Di Filippo, Simone Donnarumma, Immacolata Fanelli, Pierluigi Gagliardi, Nicolas Leonetti, Paolo Merge, Matteo Modenini, Dario Negri, Andrea Pecorella, Daniele Perelli, Massimo Ponti, Alice Sbop, Francesca Tortora, Paolo Turchi, Alessandro Vagelli, Valerio Zaccagnino, Emanuele Zambardi, Alessandro Zazza, Costantino Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Space Physics The space-based CUbesat Solar Polarimeter (CUSP) mission aims to measure the linear polarization of solar flares in the hard X-ray band by means of a Compton scattering polarimeter. CUSP will allow to study the magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in the flaring magnetic structures of our star with its unprecedented sensitivity to solar flare polarization. CUSP is a project in the framework of the Alcor Program of the Italian Space Agency aimed to develop new CubeSat missions. It has been proposed as a constellation of a two Cubesat mission to monitor the Sun for Space Weather, and will proceed with a single-satellite asset in its baseline implementation. In the frame of CUSP's Phase B study, that started in December 2024 for a 1-year period, we present the development status of this dual-phase polarimeter. Preliminary laboratory results using two chains of acquisition will be discussed. The first chain of acquisition, based on the Hamamatsu R7600 multi-anode photomultiplier tubes coupled to plastic scintillator bars and read out by the MAROC-3A ASIC, is used to detect the Compton scattering of incoming photons. On the other hand, GAGG crystals coupled to avalanche photo-diodes with a readout based on the SKIROC-2A ASIC are used to absorb the scattered photons. By reconstructing the azimuthal scattering direction for many incoming photons, one can infer the linear polarization degree and angle of the source. We will discuss the calibration results obtained with our prototype detector by using well-known radioactive isotopes, allowing us to assess the performances of our detector over the full 25-100 keV energy range. |
| title | Prototype Development and Calibration of the CUbesat Solar Polarimeter (CUSP) |
| topic | Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics Solar and Stellar Astrophysics Space Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.00642 |