The Large Area X-ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC) instrument on-board AstroSat has three nominally identical detectors for timing and spectral studies in the energy range of 3–80 keV. The performance of these detectors during the five years after the launch of AstroSat is described. Currently, only oneof the detector is working nominally. The variation in pressure, energy resolution, gain and background with time are discussed. The capabilities and limitations of the instrument are described. A brief account of available analysis software is also provided.

The origins of X-ray and radio emissions during an X-ray binary outburst are comparatively better understood than those of ultraviolet, optical and infrared radiation. This is because multiple competing mechanisms – emission from intrinsic and irradiated disk, secondary star emission, synchrotron emissionfrom jet and/or non-thermal electron cloud, etc – peak in these mid-energy ranges. Ascertaining the true emission mechanism and segregating the contribution of different mechanisms, if present, is important for correct understanding of the energetics of the system and hence its geometry and other properties. We have studied the multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution of the galactic X-ray binary GRS 1716-249 ranging from near infrared ($5 \times 10^{-4}$ keV) to hard X-rays (120 keV) using observations from AstroSat, Swift, and Mount Abu Infrared Observatory. Broadband spectral fitting suggests that the irradiated accretion disk dominates emission in ultraviolet and optical regimes. The near infrared emission exhibits some excess thanthe prediction of the irradiated disk model, which is most likely due to Synchrotron emission from jets as suggested by radio emission. Irradiation of the inner disk by the hard X-ray emission from the Corona also plays a significant role in accounting for the soft X-ray emission.

With its large effective area at hard X-rays, high time resolution and having co-aligned other instruments, AstroSat/LAXPC was designed to usher in a new era in rapid variability studies and wide spectral band measurements of the X-ray binaries. Over the last five years, the instrument has successfully achieved to a significant extent these Science goals. In the coming years, it is poised to make more important discoveries. This paper highlights the primary achievements of AstroSat/LAXPC in unraveling the behavior of black hole and neutron star systems and discusses the exciting possibility of the instrument’s contributionto future science.

An alternative scheme is described to estimate the layer 1 LAXPC 20 background for faint sources where the source contribution to the 50–80 keV count rate is less than 0.25 counts/s (15 milli-crabs or $6\times 10^{-11}$ ergs/s/cm$^2$). We consider 12 blank sky observations and based on their 50–80 keV count rate in 100 second time-bins, generate four template spectra which are then used to estimate the background spectrum and lightcurve for a given faint source observation. The variance of the estimated background subtracted spectra for the 12 blank sky observations is taken as the energy dependent systematic uncertainty which will dominate over the statistical one for exposures longer than 5 ks. The estimated 100 second time bin background lightcurve in the 4–20 keV band with a 3% systematic error matches with the blank sky ones.The 4–20 keV spectrum can be constrained for a source with flux $\gtrapprox$1 milli-crab. Fractional rms variability of 10% can be determined for a $\sim$5 milli-crab source lightcurve binned at 100 seconds. To illustrate the scheme, the lightcurves and spectra of three different blank sky observations, three AGN sources (Mrk 0926, Mrk 110, NGC 4593) and LMC X-1 are shown.