Flight calibration of the Suzaku XIS using the charge injection technique

Abstract

The X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS) on board the Suzaku satellite is an X-ray CCD camera system that has features of a low background, high quantum efficiency, and good energy resolution in the 0.2 - 12 keV band. Because of the radiation damage, however, the energy resolution of the XIS has been degraded since Suzaku was launched (July 2005). One of the major advantages of the XIS over the other X-ray CCDs in orbit is the provision of a precision charge injection (CI) capability. In order to improve the energy resolution, the precise measurement of charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) is essential. For this purpose, we applied the checker-flag CI, and we were able to measure the CTI of each CCD column. Furthermore, we were able to obtain the pulse height dependency of the CTI. Our precise CTI correction using these results improved the energy resolution from 193 eV to 173 eV in FWHM at 5.9 keV in July 2006 (one year after the launch). The energy resolution can be improved also by reducing the CTI. For this purpose, we applied the spaced-row charge injection (SCI); periodically injected artificial charges work as if they compensate radiation-induced traps and prevent electrons produced by X-rays from being captured by the charge traps. Using this method, the energy resolution improved from 210 eV to 150 eV at 5.9 keV in September 2006, which is close to the resolution just after the launch (145 eV). We report the current in-orbit calibration status of the XIS data using these two techniques. We present the time history of the gain and energy resolution determined from onboard calibration sources ([subscript 55]Fe) and observed calibration objects like E0102-72.