Performance of a Broad-Band, High-Resolution, Transition-Edge Sensor Spectrometer for X-ray Astrophysics
S. J. Smith, J. S. Adams, S. R. Bandler, Sophie Beaumont, J. A. Chervenak, E. V. Denison, W. B. Doriese, Malcolm Durkin, F. M. Finkbeiner, Joseph W. Fowler, G. C. Hilton, Ruslan Hummatov, K. D. Irwin, Richard L. Kelley, Caroline A. Kilbourne, Maurice A. Leutenegger, Antoine R. Miniussi, F. S. Porter, C. D. Reintsema, John E. Sadleir, Kazuhiro Sakai, Daniel S. Swetz, Joel N. Ullom, Leila R. Vale, Nicholas A. Wakeham, E. J. Wassell, M. C. Witthoeft
Abstract
Future X-ray astrophysics experiments require multiplexed readout of high fill-factor, kilo-pixel arrays of transition-edge sensors (TESs), with very high spectral resolution over a broad range of energies. In this paper we report on a prototype kilo-pixel array of Mo/Au TESs readout with 8-column by 32-row time-division multiplexing (TDM). This system is being used to demonstrate the critical detector and readout technology for ESA's Athena X-IFU, and when complete will be used in laboratory astrophysics experiments. Our array and TDM readout have demonstrated a combined full-width-at-half-maximum energy resolution, including > 200 pixels, of: 1.95 eV for Ti-Kα (4.5 keV), 1.97 eV for Mn-Kα (5.9 keV), 2.16 eV for Co-Kα (6.9 keV), 2.33 eV for Cu-Kα (8 keV), 3.26 eV for Br-Kα (11.9 keV). The 1 sigma statistical errors are ≤0.01 eV for all spectra. These results meet the broad-band resolution requirements for X-IFU with margin.