| The experiment LXe-CAT (Liquid Xenon-Coded Aperture Telescope), which we have proposed for {dollar}gamma{dollar}-ray astrophysical observations in the 0.3-10 MeV energy range, uses a Liquid Xenon Time Projection Chamber (LXe-TPC) as a 3-dimensional position sensitive {dollar}gamma{dollar}-ray detector, and a coded aperture mask to provide a telescope with an angular resolution of 30{dollar}spprime{dollar} over a Field-of-View (FOV) of 19{dollar}spcirc{dollar} x 19{dollar}spcirc{dollar} and a point source localization accuracy of 2{dollar}spprime{dollar} for a 10{dollar}sigma{dollar} source.; To demonstrate the spectroscopy and imaging capabilities of the LXe-TPC as a {dollar}gamma{dollar}-ray detector we have designed, built and successfully tested a 10 liter prototype with a sensitive area of {dollar}sim{dollar}400 cm{dollar}sp2{dollar} and an active liquid depth of 5 cm. Studies on gain stability, spectroscopy and imaging response of this detector to various {dollar}gamma{dollar}-ray sources are presented. The unique capability of the LXe-TPC to identify and reject background events based on Compton kinematics reconstruction has also been demonstrated.; The astrophysical observations that stimulated the development of the proposed telescope are also considered. |
