Imaging and spectroscopic performances of the silicon drift detector of the wide field monitor

Despite being a one-dimensional device by design, large-area linear Silicon Drift Detectors may exploit the diffusion of the charge cloud produced by an interacting photon to determine its two-dimensional impact position as well as its energy. Therefore, they can operate as spectral-imaging devices, which are particularly suitable for space-based X-ray coded-mask instruments, for which the trade-off between large collecting area, number of readout channels and spatial resolution is a challenge. We describe the experimental characterization of the photon reconstruction capabilities of a 169 μm anode-pitch large-area linear Silicon Drift Detector, whose technology is the foundation of the Wide Field Monitor camera of the eXTP, STROBE-X and LEM-X space missions.