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X-ray emission generated through solar-wind charge exchange (SWCX) is known to contaminate X-ray observation data, the amount of which is often significant or even dominant, particularly in the soft X-ray band, when the main target consists of comparatively weak diffuse sources, depending on the space weather during the observation. In particular, SWCX events caused by interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) tend to be spectrally rich and to provide critical information about the metal abundance in the ICME plasma. We analyzed the SN1006 background data observed with Suzaku on 2005 September 11 shortly after an X6-class solar flare, signatures of which were separately detected together with an associated ICME. We found that the data include emission lines from a variety of highly ionized ions generated through SWCX. The relative abundances of the detected ions were found to be consistent with those in past ICME-driven SWCX events. Thus, we conclude that this event was ICME driven. In addition, we detected a sulfur  xvi line for the first time as one from an SWCX emission, which suggests that it is the most spectrally rich SWCX event ever observed. We suggest that observations of ICME-driven SWCX events can provide a unique probe to study the population of highly ionized ions in the plasma, which is difficult to measure in currently available in situ observations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

X-ray Imaging Spectroscopy Mission (XRISM) is the next Japanese X-ray astronomical satellite to be launched in 2021 Japanese fiscal year. We are developing one of the XRISM instruments "Xtend", which is an X-ray CCD camera combined with an X-ray telescope, and achieves the wide field of view of 3 8 ′ × 3 8 ′ in 0.4–13 keV. In 2019, twelve flight-model (FM) candidate CCD chips were fabricated by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. We conducted screening experiments to examine whether the FM candidates met requirements for the Xtend CCDs, and selected the four FM chips from them. We constructed a screening system, with which we can examine various CCD performances by illuminating characteristic X-ray lines in a ∼ 0. 5 –14 keV band or optical lights. With this system, all the twelve candidates were confirmed to satisfy the requirements. We then selected four chips with the best performance, in terms of e.g., their charge transfer inefficiencies, energy resolutions, soft X-ray sensitivities, and optical light leakages. In this paper, we report an overview of the screening system, and procedures and results of the screening process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present experimental studies on the charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) of charge-coupled device (CCD) developed for the soft X-ray imaging telescope, Xtend, aboard the XRISM satellite. The CCD is equipped with a charge injection (CI) capability, in which sacrificial charge is periodically injected to fill the charge traps. By evaluating the re-emission of the trapped charge observed behind the CI rows, we find that there are at least three trap populations with different time constants. The traps with the shortest time constant, which is equivalent to a transfer time of approximately one pixel, are mainly responsible for the trailing charge of an X-ray event seen in the following pixel. A comparison of the trailing charge in two clocking modes reveals that the CTI depends not only on the transfer time but also on the area, namely the imaging or storage area. We construct a new CTI model by taking into account both transfer-time and area dependence. This model reproduces the data obtained in both clocking modes consistently. We also examine apparent flux dependence of the CTI observed without the CI technique. The higher incident X-ray flux is, the lower the CTI value becomes. It is due to a sacrificial charge effect by another X-ray photon. This effect is found to be negligible when the CI technique is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have been developing P-channel Charge-Coupled Devices (CCDs) for the upcoming X-ray Astronomy Satellite XRISM, planned to be launched in 2021. While the basic design of the CCD camera (Soft X-ray Imager: SXI) is almost the same as that of the lost Hitomi (ASTRO-H) observatory, we are planning to reduce the phenomenon of "light leakages" that is one of the largest problems recognized in Hitomi data. We adopted a double-layer optical blocking layer on the XRISM CCDs and also added an extra aluminum layer on the backside of them. We develop a newly designed test sample CCD and irradiate it with optical light to evaluate the optical blocking performance. As a result, light leakages are effectively reduced compared with that of the Hitomi CCDs. We thus conclude that the issue is solved by the new design and that the XRISM CCDs satisfy the mission requirement for the SXI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]