Events at Physics |
TES microcalorimeters measure the temperature change that occurs when individual photons are absorbed. In laboratory demonstrations, our TES devices achieve energy resolutions of ~2 eV at 6 keV. The X-ray Microcalorimeter Spectrometer (XMS) is a proposed instrument that will utilize these TES devices in a kilopixel-scale array that would go onboard the International X-ray Observatory (IXO). This instrument will be able to provide superior high-throughput, non-dispersive spectroscopy with high resolution and imaging capabilities in the 0.1 - 10 keV energy range.
In this talk I will introduce science drivers for the XMS instrument. I will then describe the XMS detector technology and the transition from individual pixels to large-scale arrays. I will conclude by showing state-of-the-art results as well as preliminary laboratory tests of a concept for the XMS anti-coincidence detector, which will be used to reject background events generated by cosmic rays.