Year: 2018
Type: preprint
Abstract: The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer of the ESA Athena X-ray observatory. Over a field of view of 5' equivalent diameter, it will deliver X-ray spectra from 0.2 to 12 keV with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV up to 7 keV on ~5 arcsecond pixels. The X-IFU is based on a large format array of super-conducting molybdenum-gold Transition Edge Sensors cooled at about 90 mK, each coupled with an absorber made of gold and bismuth with a pitch of 249 microns. A cryogenic anti-coincidence detector located underneath the prime TES array enables the non X-ray background to be reduced. A bath temperature of about 50 mK is obtained by a series of mechanical coolers combining 15K Pulse Tubes, 4K and 2K Joule-Thomson coolers which pre-cool a sub Kelvin cooler made of a 3He sorption cooler coupled with an Adiabatic Demagnetization Refrigerator. Frequency domain multiplexing enables to read out 40 pixels in one single channel. A photon interacting with an absorber leads to a current pulse, amplified by the readout electronics and whose shape is reconstructed on board to recover its energy with high accuracy. The defocusing capability offered by the Athena movable mirror assembly enables the X-IFU to observe the brightest X-ray sources of the sky (up to Crab-like intensities) by spreading the telescope point spread function over hundreds of pixels. Thus the X-IFU delivers low pile-up, high throughput (>50%), and typically 10 eV spectral resolution at 1 Crab intensities, i.e. a factor of 10 or more better than Silicon based X-ray detectors. In this paper, the current X-IFU baseline is presented, together with an assessment of its anticipated performance in terms of spectral resolution, background, and count rate capability. The X-IFU baseline configuration will be subject to a preliminary requirement review that is scheduled at the end of 2018.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Barret, Didier, Trong, Thien Lam, Herder, Jan-Willem den, Piro, Luigi, Cappi, Massimo, Huovelin, Juhani, Kelley, Richard, Mas-Hesse, J. Miguel, Mitsuda, Kazuhisa, Paltani, Stéphane, Rauw, Gregor, Rozanska, Agata, Wilms, Joern, Bandler, Simon, Barbera, Marco, Barcons, Xavier, Bozzo, Enrico, Ceballos, Maria Teresa, Charles, Ivan, Costantini, Elisa, Decourchelle, Anne, Hartog, Roland den, Duband, Lionel, Duval, Jean-Marc, Fiore, Fabrizio, Gatti, Flavio, Goldwurm, Andrea, Jackson, Brian, Jonker, Peter, Kilbourne, Caroline, Macculi, Claudio, Mendez, Mariano, Molendi, Silvano, Orleanski, Piotr, Pajot, François, Pointecouteau, Etienne, Porter, Frederick, Pratt, Gabriel W., Prêle, Damien, Ravera, Laurent, Sato, Kosuke, Schaye, Joop, Shinozaki, Keisuke, Thibert, Tanguy, Valenziano, Luca, Valette, Veronique, Vink, Jacco, Webb, Natalie, Wise, Michael, Yamasaki, Noriko, Delcelier-Douchin, Françoise, Mesnager, Jean-Michel, Pontet, Bernard, Pradines, Alice, Branduardi-Raymont, Graziella, Bulbul, Esra, Dadina, Mauro, Ettori, Stefano, Finoguenov, Alexis, Fukazawa, Yasushi, Janiuk, Agnieszka, Kaastra, Jelle, Mazzotta, Pasquale, Miller, Jon, Miniutti, Giovanni, Nazé, Yaël, Nicastro, Fabrizio, Sciortino, Salvatore, Simionescu, Aurora, Torrejon, Jose Miguel, Frezouls, Benoît, Geoffray, Hervé, Peille, Philippe, Aicardi, Corinne, André, Jérôme, Clénet, Antoine, Daniel, Christophe, Etcheverry, Christophe, Gloaguen, Emilie, Hervet, Gilles, Jolly, Antoine, Ledot, Aurélien, Maussang, Irwin, Paillet, Alexis, Schmisser, Roseline, Vella, Bruno, Damery, Jean-Charles, Boyce, Kevin, DiPirro, Michael, Lotti, Simone, Schwander, Denis, Smith, Stephen, van Leeuwen, Bert-Joost, van Weers, Henk, Clerc, Nicolas, Cobo, Beatriz, Dauser, Thomas, de Plaa, Jelle, Kirsch, Christian, Cucchetti, Edoardo, Eckart, Megan, Ferrando, Philippe, Natalucci, Lorenzo
Institutions: Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Centre National d'Études Spatiales, Space Research Organisation Netherlands, Osservatorio di Astrofisica e Scienza dello Spazio, National Institute for Astrophysics, University of Helsinki, Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Centro de Astrobiología, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, University of Geneva, University of Liège, University of Palermo, Instituto de Física de Cantabria, Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives, University of Genoa, University of Groningen, Centrum Badań Kosmicznych, Saitama University, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, University College London, Hiroshima University, University of Michigan, University of Alicante
Language: English
Subfield: Instrumentation
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2883029228