EURECA: European-Japanese Microcalorimeter Array

• Published in: Journal of low temperature physics 2008-05, Vol.151 (3-4), p.733-739
• Main Authors: de Korte, P., Anquita, J., Bakker, F., Barcons, X., Bastia, P., Beyer, J., Boersma, D., Briones, F., Bruijn, M., Bussons, J., Camòn, A., Carrera, F., Ceballos, M., Colasanti, L., Drung, D., Fabrega, L., Ferrari, L., Gatti, F., Gonzalez-Arrabal, R., Gottardi, L., Hajdas, W., Helistö, P., den Herder, J. W., Hoevers, H., Ishisaki, Y., Kiviranta, M., van der Kuur, J., Macculi, C., Mchedlishvili, A., Mitsuda, K., Monna, B., Mossel, R., Ohashi, T., Pantali, S., Parra, M., Piro, L., Rohlfs, R., Sésé, J., Takei, Y., Torrioli, G., van Weers, H., Yamasaki, N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Magnetic Materials; Magnetism; Physics; Physics and Astronomy
• ISSN: 0022-2291; 1573-7357
• DOI: 10.1007/s10909-008-9731-8

The EURECA project aims to demonstrate technological readiness of a micro-calorimeter array for application in future X-ray astronomy missions, like Constellation-X, EDGE, and XEUS. The prototype instrument consists of a 5×5 pixel array of TES-based micro-calorimeters read out by two SQUID-amplifier channels using frequency-domain-multiplexing (FDM) with digital base-band feedback. The detector array is cooled by a cryogen-free cryostat consisting of a pulse tube cooler and a two stage ADR. Initial tests of the system at the PTB beam line of the BESSY synchrotron showed stable performance and an X-ray energy resolution of 1.5 eV at 250 eV for read-out of one TES-pixel only. Next step is deployment of FDM to read-out the full array. Full performance demonstration is expected end 2008.