Position-sensitive transition edge sensor with sub-micrometer accuracy developed for future x-ray interferometry mission

Hirofumi Noda; Tasuku Hayashi; Shinya Yamada; Dai Takei

doi:10.1117/12.2629086

31 August 2022 Position-sensitive transition edge sensor with sub-micrometer accuracy developed for future x-ray interferometry mission

Hirofumi Noda, Tasuku Hayashi, Shinya Yamada, Dai Takei

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 12181, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray; 121812D (2022) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2629086
Event: SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation, 2022, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Abstract

An X-ray interferometer is a promising technology to achieve an unprecedentedly high-spatial resolution, which provides us further understandings of astrophysical objects and the Universe. The most critical key to realize a space telescope of X-ray interferometry is downsizing the optics, and one method for that is to develop an X-ray sensor with high position accuracy that can detect narrow X-ray interference fringes. For this purpose, we are developing a position-sensitive X-ray sensor by applying the Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) technology. We designed a prototype sensor as two Ti/Au (40/90 nm) TES pixels (140 × 140 μm) connected by a single oblong Au absorber (1400 μm × 20 μm × 1 μm) aiming the sub-micrometer position accuracy. Depending on an X-ray incident position, a photon energy is divided into the two TES pixels causing individual pulses. By measuring the difference of rising edges of the two pulses, we can determine the photon-incident position. We fabricated the prototype sensor, and performed an X-ray irradiation experiment by using an ⁵⁵Fe radioactive source. As a result, we successfully detected pulses with different trigger times which reflect different rising edges up to ∼ 5 μsec, corresponding to the X-ray photon incident positions up to ∼ 0.5 mm from the center of the absorber. Here, the position accuracy depends on the accuracy of determining the rising edges. The response of our sensor is observed as ∼ 0.5 mm/5 μsec, indicating that a sub-micrometer position determination could be achieved by observing rising edges with nsec accuracy as a future prospect. In this paper, we introduce the design, fabrication, and X-ray irradiation experiment of this new position-sensitive X-ray sensor.

Conference Presentation

Citation Download Citation

Hirofumi Noda, Tasuku Hayashi, Shinya Yamada, and Dai Takei "Position-sensitive transition edge sensor with sub-micrometer accuracy developed for future x-ray interferometry mission", Proc. SPIE 12181, Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2022: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray, 121812D (31 August 2022); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2629086

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