An Algorithm to Calibrate and Correct the Response to Unpolarized Radiation of the X-Ray Polarimeter Onboard IXPE

The Gas Pixel Detector (GPD) is an X-ray polarimeter to fly onboard IXPE and other missions. To correctly measure the source polarization, the response of IXPE’s GPDs to unpolarized radiation has to be calibrated and corrected. In this paper, we describe the way such response is measured with laboratory sources and the algorithm to apply such correction to the observations of celestial sources. The latter allows to correct the response to polarization of single photons, therefore allowing great flexibility in all the subsequent analysis. Our correction approach is tested against both monochromatic and nonmonochromatic laboratory sources and with simulations, finding that it correctly retrieves the polarization up to the statistical limits of the planned IXPE observations.

Formation of Neutral Points in the Polarization Characteristics of Secondary Radiation in the Semi-Infinite Medium Model

This article studies the polarization characteristics of diffusely reflected backward radiation when illuminating a semiinfinite, light-scattering medium with unpolarized radiation. The formation of neutral Babine, Brewster and Arago polarization points in the angular polarization characteristics of the secondary radiation is shown. Comparison between the results of exact numerical calculations and approximate analytical formulas has been carried out and physical conditions for the appearance of neutral points depending on the angles of illumination and the multiplicity of scattering have been analyzed.

Separation of hyperfine interactions in Mössbauer spectrocsopy

Problem of determination of isomer shift, all components of the electric field gradient and hyperfine magnetic field in case of mixed hyperfine interactions is presented. Orientation of hyperfine fields in the absorber Cartesian frame can be determined by few measurements with use of unpolarized radiation under different directions of wave vector with respect to the absorber. The method can be applied for absorbers with well separated absorption lines in their spectra. Explicit formulas for tensor components of hyperfine interactions derived from velocity moments formalism are presented.

MAGNETIC DICHROISM UNDER EXCITATION BY UNPOLARIZED RADIATION

Magnetic dichroism has been observed in the angular distribution of p-core level photoemission spectra excited from crystalline ferromagnets by unpolarized X-rays. The angular dependence of the angular and energy-resolved photoemission intensity was recorded as a function of the emission direction with respect to the crystal, revealing a strong variation of the magnetic dichroism with emission angle due to photoelectron diffraction. This variation is particularly strong around the forward scattering peaks, including sign reversals close to these directions. The results demonstrate that any standard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy apparatus possesses the potential for combined analysis of surface magnetic structure and geometric structure in a chemically specific way.

Vector Magnetometry Using the 12-μm Emission Lines

Recent polarimetric observations of the 12.32-μm emission line have provided the observational basis for deriving vector magnetic fields in the upper photosphere with great sensitivity. We use a line source function from the non-LTE model of Carlsson, Rutten and Shchukina, and calculate the radiative transfer of the Stokes I, Q, U, and V profiles. The results show that the profiles are not significantly affected by magneto-optical effects or by saturation, and reliable vector fields can be extracted by simply fitting the Seares relations to the Stokes profiles. Vector field observations for sunspots have shown that the field extends well beyond the photometric boundary of the sunspot, but that the field strength at the penumbral/photospheric boundary is less than half of the sunspot-center value. Within a mature sunspot, the 12-μm line profiles contain essentially no unpolarized radiation, indicating that the field is not intermittent in the sense of containing discrete flux tubes separated by field-free regions. We describe the design of a 12-μm Stokes polarimeter incorporating a high-resolution Fabry-Perot etalon and a 128 × 128 infrared array detector.

Complete determination of polarization state in the hard X-ray region

A new method for complete determination of polarization state in the hard X-ray region is described. The system consists of a perfect-crystal phase retarder and a linear polarization analyzer. This method gives not only the amplitude ratio of mutually perpendicular electric vector components and the phase shift between them but also the proportion of unpolarized radiation.