The performance of the ATHENA X-ray Integral Field Unit

Peille, Philippe; Hartog, R. den; Macculi, C.; Barbera, Marco; Lotti, Simone; Cucchetti, Edoardo; Kirsch, Christian; Dauser, Thomas; Wilms, J.; Bandler, S. R.; Smith, S. J.; Jackson, B. D.; Geoffray, Hervé; Mesnager, Jean-Michel; Pajot, F.; Barret, D.; Lam-Trong, T.; Herder, Jan-Willem den; Piro, L.

doi:10.1117/12.2313720

Cited by 4 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…In all plots, crosses indicate the X-IFU count rate requirements and goals. Cross talk is accounted for as a throughput loss [30].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The spectral resolution budget which details the contribution of each component of the readout chain from the intrinsic detector noise, the amplifier noises, the bias noises, as well as the degradation from EMI/EMC and the variability of the instrument environment, demonstrates that a 2.5 eV resolution can be achieved with a 0.5 eV (rss) margin [23,30]. Recent FDM measurements of multiplexed pixels demonstrate that the required spectral resolution of 2.5 eV is within reach [22].…”

Section: Readout Chainmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The performance assessment of X-IFU is reported in details in [30]. study has been conducted with the so-called as proposed mirror configuration (20 mirror rows for rea of 2 m 2 at 1 keV), which has now been replaced by a smaller new mirror configuration with 15 (∼ 1.4 m 2 at 1 keV).…”

Section: X-ifu Current Performancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The spectral resolution of the X-IFU (TES and readout) is computed using the tessim tool (see [30,35] for details). The spectral resolution shows little dependency with energy up to 3-4 keV and increases smoothly afterwards.…”

Section: Spectral Resolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit

Barret¹,

Trong²,

Herder³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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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" pixels. The X-IFU is based on a large format array of super-conducting molybdenum-gold Transition Edge Sensors cooled at ∼ 90 mK, each coupled with an absorber made of gold and bismuth with a pitch of 249 µm. A cryogenic anti-coincidence detector located underneath the prime TES array enables the non X-ray background to be reduced. A bath temperature of ∼ 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 3 He 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.The X-IFU will be provided by an international consortium led by France, the Netherlands and Italy, with further ESA member state contributions from Belgium,

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“…In all plots, crosses indicate the X-IFU count rate requirements and goals. Cross talk is accounted for as a throughput loss [30].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Readout Chainmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: X-ifu Current Performancesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Spectral Resolutionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit

Barret¹,

Trong²,

Herder³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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“…The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) 1 instrument that will be on-board the ESA's Athena mission, 2 is a high-resolution cryogenic imaging spectrometer in the 0.2-12 keV band that will provide unprecedented spectral resolution (2.5 eV at 7 keV) with 5" of spatial resolution. The X-IFU Focal Plane will contain a large array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES) (3168 pixels) in groups of several tens of TES per readout channel considering a Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) scheme.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pulse processing in TES detectors: comparative of different short filter methods based on optimal filtering: case study for Athena X-IFU

Cobo¹,

Cardiel²,

Ceballos³

et al. 2020

Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2020: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray

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In the framework of the ESA Athena mission, the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) instrument to be on board the X-ray Athena Observatory is a cryogenic micro-calorimeter array of Transition Edge Sensor (TES) detectors aimed at providing spatially resolved high-resolution spectroscopy. As a part of the on-board Event Processor (EP), the reconstruction software will provide the energy, spatial location and arrival time of the incoming X-ray photons hitting the detector and inducing current pulses on it. Being the standard optimal filtering technique the chosen baseline reconstruction algorithm, different modifications have been analyzed to process pulses shorter than those considered of high resolution (those where the full length is not available due to a close pulse after them) in order to select the best option based on energy resolution and computing performance results. It can be concluded that the best approach to optimize the energy resolution for short filters is the 0-padding filtering technique, benefiting also from a reduction in the computational resources. However, it's high sensitivity to offset fluctuations currently prevents its use as the baseline treatment for the X-IFU application for lack of consolidated information on the actual stability it will get in flight.

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The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit: a consolidated design for the system requirement review of the preliminary definition phase

et al. 2023

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The Athena X-ray Integral Unit (X-IFU) is the high resolution X-ray spectrometer studied since 2015 for flying in the mid-30s on the Athena space X-ray Observatory. Athena is a versatile observatory designed to address the Hot and Energetic Universe science theme, as selected in November 2013 by the Survey Science Committee. Based on a large format array of Transition Edge Sensors (TES), X-IFU aims to provide spatially resolved X-ray spectroscopy, with a spectral resolution of 2.5 eV (up to 7 keV) over a hexagonal field of view of 5 arc minutes (equivalent diameter). The X-IFU entered its System Requirement Review (SRR) in June 2022, at about the same time when ESA called for an overall X-IFU redesign (including the X-IFU cryostat and the cooling chain), due to an unanticipated cost overrun of Athena. In this paper, after illustrating the breakthrough capabilities of the X-IFU, we describe the instrument as presented at its SRR (i.e. in the course of its preliminary definition phase, so-called B1), browsing through all the subsystems and associated requirements. We then show the instrument budgets, with a particular emphasis on the anticipated budgets of some of its key performance parameters, such as the instrument efficiency, spectral resolution, energy scale knowledge, count rate capability, non X-ray background and target of opportunity efficiency. Finally, we briefly discuss the ongoing key technology demonstration activities, the calibration and the activities foreseen in the X-IFU Instrument Science Center, touch on communication and outreach activities, the consortium organisation and the life cycle assessment of X-IFU aiming at minimising the environmental footprint, associated with the development of the instrument. Thanks to the studies conducted so far on X-IFU, it is expected that along the design-to-cost exercise requested by ESA, the X-IFU will maintain flagship

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The performance of the ATHENA X-ray Integral Field Unit

Cited by 4 publications

References 8 publications

The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit

The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit

Pulse processing in TES detectors: comparative of different short filter methods based on optimal filtering: case study for Athena X-IFU

The Athena X-ray Integral Field Unit: a consolidated design for the system requirement review of the preliminary definition phase

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