A new design of hard X-ray polarimeter

A new type of polarimeter has been designed to detect polarized hard X-rays from stellar objects. The performance is investigated by computer simulations based on the characteristics of the polarimeter. The simulations show that the minimum detectable polarization of the hard X-rays from the Crab Nebula is about 13% for balloon observation over two hours. The authors report the design and characteristics of this polarimeter, and the estimation of the detection of polarized hard X-rays from the Crab Nebula. >