A test platform for the detection and readout chain for the Athena X-IFU

TL;DR

This paper introduces a test platform for the Athena X-IFU detection and readout chain, enabling end-to-end testing with prototypes and providing critical feedback for subsystem development and calibration.

Contribution

It presents the design and implementation of a comprehensive test bench for the Athena X-IFU, including cryostat, detectors, and electronics, for system validation and development.

Findings

Successful integration of the detection chain in a cryostat environment

Initial characterization of the cryostat and detectors

Validation of prototype readout electronics

Abstract

We present a test platform for the Athena X-IFU detection chain, which will serve as the first demonstration of the representative end-to-end detection and readout chain for the X-IFU, using prototypes of the future flight electronics and currently available subsystems. This test bench, housed in a commercial two-stage ADR cryostat, includes a focal plane array placed at the 50 mK cold stage of the ADR with a kilopixel array of transition-edge sensor microcalorimeter spectrometers and associated cold readout electronics. Prototype room temperature electronics for the X-IFU provide the readout, and will evolve over time to become more representative of the X-IFU mission baseline. The test bench yields critical feedback on subsystem designs and interfaces, in particular the warm readout electronics, and will provide an in-house detection system for continued testing and development of the warm readout electronics and for the validation of X-ray calibration sources. In this paper, we describe the test bench subsystems and design, characterization of the cryostat, and current status of the project.