The Cryogenic AntiCoincidence detector for ATHENA X-IFU: improvement of the test setup towards the Demonstration Model

TL;DR

This paper details improvements to the cryogenic test setup for the ATHENA X-IFU Cryogenic Anticoincidence Detector, focusing on mechanical and magnetic shielding enhancements to facilitate the development of the Demonstration Model.

Contribution

It introduces a new cryogenic test setup with mechanical and magnetic shielding improvements validated through simulations and measurements, advancing CryoAC DM development.

Findings

Enhanced cryogenic test setup with magnetic shielding

Successful preliminary performance testing of the CryoAC prototype

Validated shielding effectiveness via FEM simulations and warm measurements

Abstract

The ATHENA X-IFU development program foresees to build and characterize an instrument Demonstration Model (DM), in order to probe the system critical technologies before the mission adoption. In this respect, we are now developing the DM of the X-IFU Cryogenic Anticoincidence Detector (CryoAC), which will be delivered to the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) development team for the integration with the TES array. Before the delivery, we will characterize and test the CryoAC DM in our CryoLab at INAF/IAPS. In this paper we report the main results of the activities performed to improve our cryogenic test setup, making it suitable for the DM integration. These activities mainly consist in the development of a mechanichal setup and a cryogenic magnetic shielding system, whose effectiveness has been assessed by FEM simulations and a measurement at warm. The preliminary performance test has been performed by means of the last CryoAC single pixel prototype, the AC-S8 pre-DM sample.