Berlin 2005 – scientific programme

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TT: Tiefe Temperaturen

TT 28: Superconductivity - Applications I : Cryodetectors

TT 28.1: Invited Talk

Tuesday, March 8, 2005, 14:00–14:30, TU H104

Cryogenic Detectors for X-ray Astronomy — •Piet de Korte — Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584CA Utrecht, The Netherlands

The future of X-ray astronomy will be directed towards the study of very high redshift sources, that are therefore extremely weak. Some observational cases will be presented.

In addition to extremely large area collection optics this requires detectors with a high detection efficiency in combination with very good spectral resolution and imaging. Such a mission is conceptualized by the European Space Agency under the name XEUS.

The only type of sensors fulfilling those requirements are cryogenic sensors with single photon detection capability and an intrinsic energy resolution of a few eV at photon energies of a few keV. Micro-calorimeters making use of the phase-transition between the normal-to-superconducting state for thermometry are at presently the most promising devices.

This paper will describe the characteristics of these so-called transition-edge-sensors (TES), there present performance and the means to make large imaging pixel arrays. Also the characteristics of SQUID-based read-out electronics will be presented.