Performance of the SRON Ti/Autransition edge sensor x-ray calorimeters

In the early 2030s, ESAs new X-ray observatory, Athena, is scheduled to be launched. It will carry two main<br/>instruments, one of which is the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU), an X-ray imaging spectrometer, which will consist of an array of several thousand transition-edge sensors (TESs) with a proposed energy resolution of 2.5 eV for photon...

Lateral Inverse Proximity Effect in Ti/Au Transition Edge Sensors

We report measured T_c of superconducting Ti/Au bilayer strips with a width W varying from 5 to 50 µm. The strips were fabricated based on a Ti/Au bilayer that consists of a 41-nm-thick Ti layer to which a 280-nm-thick Au layer was added. We find that the T_c drops as W decreases and the declining trend almost perfectly...

Development of a Ti/Au TES Microcalorimeter Array as a Backup Sensor for the Athena/X-IFU Instrument

We are developing a transition edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeter array based on a Ti/Au superconducting bilayer, as a backup option for the X-IFU instrument on the Athena X-ray observatory. The array is read out by a frequency-division multiplexing readout system using a 1–5 MHz frequency band. Extensive research collaborations between NASA...