Abstract
A micro-calorimeter array with superconducting transition-edge sensors read out by a SQUID-based frequency-domain multiplexer is under development for the X-ray imaging spectrometer on board ESA's X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy (XEUS) mission. The XEUS requirements are 2 and 5 eV FWHM energy resolution for 2 and 7 keV X-rays, respectively. An array of 32 × 32 pixels with 250 micron square pixels is envisaged. SRON and MESA+ have developed 5 × 5 imaging micro-calorimeter prototype arrays along a bulk micromachining and a surface micromachining route. The present state of array design and development with emphasis on pixel-to-pixel performance measurements of thermal and I-V characteristics, sensor noise and energy resolution are presented. SRON and VTT are developing frequency-domain multiplexing with SQUID current amplifiers to read out the 32 × 32 array. The concept for the frequency division multiplexing read-out will be presented and its performance characteristics discussed. Recent results of sensor operation under AC-bias (500 kHz) are presented.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 22 |
Pages (from-to) | 167-176 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - the international society for optical engineering |
Volume | 5501 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2004 |
Event | SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2004 - Glasgow, United Kingdom Duration: 22 Jun 2004 → 23 Jun 2004 |
Keywords
- Cryogenic micro-calorimeters
- Frequency-domain multiplexing (FDM)
- Imaging X-ray spectrometer
- SQUIDs
- Transition-edge sensors (TES)
- X-ray astronomy
- XEUS