Performance and calibration of the AXAF high resolution camera .1. Imaging readout

The High Resolution Camera (HRC) will be one of the two focal plane instruments on the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility, (AXAF). AXAF will perform high resolution spectrometry and imaging in the X-ray band of 0.1 to 10 keV. The HRC instrument consists of two detectors, the HRC-I for imaging and the HRC-S for spectroscopy. Each HRC detector consists of a thin aluminized polyimide window, a chevron pair of microchannel plates (MCPs) and a crossed grid charge readout. The HRC-I is a 100 x 100 mm detector optimized for high resolution imaging and timing, the HRC-S is a similar to 30 x 300 mm detector optimized to function as the readout for the Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (LETGS). In this paper we present the absolute quantum efficiency, spatial resolution, point spread response function and count rate linearity of the HRC-I detector. Data taken at the HRC laboratory and at the Marshall Space flight Center X-ray Calibration Facility are presented. The development of the HRC is a collaborative effort between The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, University of Leicester UK and the Osservatorio Astronomico, G.S. Vaiana, Palermo Italy.