Progress in the Development of Frequency‑Domain Multiplexing for the X‑ray Integral Field Unit on Board the Athena Mission

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Akamatsu, H., Gottardi, L., van der Kuur, J. et al. Progress in the Development of Frequency-Domain Multiplexing for the X-ray Integral Field Unit on Board the Athena Mission. J Low Temp Phys 199, 737–744 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-020-02351-3

Rights

This work was written as part of one of the author's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government. In accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105, no copyright protection is available for such works under U.S. Law.
Public Domain Mark 1.0

Subjects

Abstract

Frequency-domain multiplexing (FDM) is the baseline readout system for the X-ray Integral Field Unit on board the Athena mission. Under the FDM scheme, TESs are coupled to a passive LC flter and biased with alternating current (AC bias) at MHz frequencies. Using high-quality-factor LC flters and room-temperature electronics developed at SRON and low-noise two-stage SQUID amplifers provided by VTT, we have recently demonstrated good performance with the FDM readout of Mo/Au TES calorimeters with Au/Bi absorbers. We have achieved a performance requested for the demonstration model with the single-pixel AC bias (ΔE = 1.8 eV) and nine-pixel multiplexing (ΔE = 2.6 eV) modes. We have also demonstrated 14-pixel multiplexing with an average energy resolution of 3.3 eV, which is limited by nonfundamental issues related to FDM readout in our laboratory setup.