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Low-temperature detectors often use mechanical coolers as part of the cooling chain in order to reach sub-Kelvin operating temperatures. The microphonics noise caused by the mechanical coolers is a general and inherent issue for these detectors. We have observed this effect in the ground test data obtained with the Resolve instrument to be flown on the XRISM satellite. Resolve is a cryogenic X-ray microcalorimeter spectrometer with a required energy resolution of 7 eV at 6 keV. Five mechanical coolers are used to cool from ambient temperature to about 4 K: four two-stage Stirling coolers (STC) driven nominally at 15 Hz and a Joule-Thomson cooler (JTC) driven nominally at 52 Hz. In 2019, we operated the flight-model instrument for two weeks, in which we also obtained accelerometer data inside the cryostat at a low-temperature stage (He tank). X-ray detector and accelerometer data were obtained continuously while changing the JTC drive frequency, which produced a unique data set for investigating how the vibration from the cryocoolers propagates to the detector. In the detector noise spectra, we observed harmonics of both STCs and JTC. More interestingly, we also observed the low (<20 Hz) frequency beat between the 4'th JTC and 14'th STC harmonics and the 7'th JTC and the 23--24'th STC harmonics. We present here a description and interpretation of these measurements., Comment: J Low Temp Phys (2023)

Micro-X is an X-ray sounding rocket payload that had its first flight on July 22, 2018. The goals of the first flight were to operate a transition edge sensor (TES) X-ray microcalorimeter array in space and take a high-resolution spectrum of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant. The first flight was considered a partial success. The array and its time-division multiplexing readout system were successfully operated in space, but due to a failure in the attitude control system, no time on-target was acquired. A re-flight has been scheduled for summer 2022. Since the first flight, modifications have been made to the detector systems to improve noise and reduce the susceptibility to magnetic fields. The three-stage SQUID circuit, NIST MUX06a, has been replaced by a two-stage SQUID circuit, NIST MUX18b. The initial laboratory results for the new detector system will be presented in this paper., Comment: LTD proceedings, 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table

The Micro-X sounding rocket is a NASA funded X-ray telescope payload that completed its first flight on July 22, 2018. This event marked the first operation of Transition Edge Sensors (TESs) and their SQUID-based multiplexing readout system in space. Unfortunately, due to an ACS pointing failure, the rocket was spinning during its five minute observation period and no scientific data was collected. However, data collected from the internal calibration source marked a partial success for the payload and offers a unique opportunity to study the response of TESs and SQUIDs in space. Of particular interest is the magnetic field response of the NIST MUX06a SQUID readout system to tumbling through Earth's magnetic field. We present a model to explain the baseline response of the SQUIDs, which lead to a subset of pixels failing to "lock" for the full observational period. Future flights of the Micro-X rocket will include the NIST MUX18b SQUID system with dramatically reduced magnetic susceptibility., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, LTD19 conference proceedings

With its first flight in 2018, Micro-X became the first program to fly Transition-Edge Sensors and their SQUID readouts in space. The science goal was a high-resolution, spatially resolved X-ray spectrum of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant. While a rocket pointing error led to no time on target, the data was used to demonstrate the flight performance of the instrument. The detectors observed X-rays from the on-board calibration source, but a susceptibility to external magnetic fields limited their livetime. Accounting for this, no change was observed in detector response between ground operation and flight operation. This paper provides an overview of the first flight performance and focuses on the upgrades made in preparation for reflight. The largest changes have been upgrading the SQUIDs to mitigate magnetic susceptibility, synchronizing the clocks on the digital electronics to minimize beat frequencies, and replacing the mounts between the cryostat and the rocket skin to improve mechanical integrity. As the first flight performance was consistent with performance on the ground, reaching the instrument goals in the laboratory is considered a strong predictor of future flight performance.

X-ray calorimeters routinely achieve very high spectral resolution, typically a few eV full width at half maximum (FWHM). Measurements of calorimeter line shapes are usually dominated by the natural linewidth of most laboratory calibration sources. This compounds the data acquisition time necessary to statistically sample the instrumental line broadening, and can add systematic uncertainty if the intrinsic line shape of the source is not well known. To address these issues, we have built a simple, compact monochromatic x-ray source using channel cut crystals. A commercial x-ray tube illuminates a pair of channel cut crystals which are aligned in a dispersive configuration to select the \kaone line of the x-ray tube anode material. The entire device, including x-ray tube, can be easily hand carried by one person and may be positioned manually or using a mechanical translation stage. The output monochromatic beam provides a collimated image of the anode spot with magnification of unity in the dispersion direction (typically 100-200 $\mu$m for the x-ray tubes used here), and is unfocused in the cross-dispersion direction, so that the source image in the detector plane appears as a line. We measured output count rates as high as 10 count/s/pixel for the Hitomi Soft X-ray Spectrometer, which had 819 $\mu$m square pixels. We implemented different monochromator designs for energies of 5.4 keV (one design) and 8.0 keV (two designs) which have effective theoretical FWHM energy resolution of 0.125, 0.197, and 0.086 eV, respectively; these are well-suited for optimal calibration measurements of state-of-the art x-ray calorimeters. We measured an upper limit for the energy resolution of our \crkaone monochromator of 0.7 eV FWHM at 5.4 keV, consistent with the theoretical prediction of 0.125 eV., Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in RSI

Micro-X is a sounding rocket-borne instrument that uses a microcalorimeter array to perform high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy. This instrument flew for the first time on July 22nd, 2018 from the White Sands Missile Range, USA. This flight marks the first successful operation of a Transition-Edge Sensor array and its time division multiplexing read-out system in space. This launch was dedicated to the observation of the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A. A failure in the attitude control system prevented the rocket from pointing and led to no time on target. The on-board calibration source provided X-rays in flight, and it is used to compare detector performance during pre-flight integration, flight, and after the successful post-flight recovery. This calibration data demonstrates the capabilities of the detector in a space environment as well as its potential for future flights., Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, Accepted to the JLTP for LTD-18

The Micro-X sounding rocket flew for the first time on July 22, 2018, becoming the first program to fly Transition-Edge Sensors and multiplexing SQUID readout electronics in space. While a rocket pointing failure led to no time on-target, the success of the flight systems was demonstrated. The successful flight operation of the instrument puts the program in a position to modify the payload for indirect galactic dark matter searches. The payload modifications are motivated by the science requirements of this observation. Micro-X can achieve world-leading sensitivity in the keV regime with a single flight. Dark matter sensitivity projections have been updated to include recent observations and the expected sensitivity of Micro-X to these observed fluxes. If a signal is seen (as seen in the X-ray satellites), Micro-X can differentiate an atomic line from a dark matter signature., Comment: Proceedings of the 18th International Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors (LTD18)

We present the first high-resolution laboratory spectra of X-ray emission following L-shell charge exchange between nickel ions and neutral H2 and He. We employ the commonly used charge exchange models found in XSPEC and SPEX, ACX and SPEX-CX, to simulate our experimental results. We show that significant differences between data and models exist in both line energies and strengths. In particular, we find that configuration mixing may play an important role in generating lines from core-excited states, and may be improperly treated in models. Our results indicate that if applied to astrophysical data, these models may lead to incorrect assumptions of the physical and chemical parameters of the region of interest., Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, 1 table

We have measured the energies of the strongest 1s-2ell (ell=s,p) transitions in He- through Ne-like silicon and sulfur ions to an accuracy of better than 1eV using Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's electron beam ion traps, EBIT-I and SuperEBIT, and the NASA/GSFC EBIT Calorimeter Spectrometer (ECS). We identify and measure the energies of 18 and 21 X-ray features from silicon and sulfur, respectively. The results are compared to new Flexible Atomic Code calculations and to semi-relativistic Hartree Fock calculations by Palmeri et al. (2008). These results will be especially useful for wind diagnostics in high mass X-ray binaries, such as Vela X-1 and Cygnus X-1, where high-resolution spectral measurements using Chandra's high energy transmission grating has made it possible to measure Doppler shifts of 100km/s. The accuracy of our measurements is consistent with that needed to analyze Chandra observations, exceeding Chandra's 100km/s limit. Hence, the results presented here not only provide benchmarks for theory, but also accurate rest energies that can be used to determine the bulk motion of material in astrophysical sources. We show the usefulness of our results by applying them to redetermine Doppler shifts from Chandra observations of Vela X-1., Comment: ApJ, in press

We report on our activities, currently in progress, aimed at performing accelerator experiments with soft protons and hyper-velocity dust particles. They include tests of different types of X-ray detectors and related components (such as filters) and measurements of scattering of soft protons and hyper-velocity dust particles off X-ray mirror shells. These activities have been identified as a goal in the context of a number of ongoing space projects in order to assess the risk posed by environmental radiation and dust and qualify the adopted instrumentation with respect to possible damage or performance degradation. In this paper we focus on tests for the Silicon Drift Detectors (SDDs) used aboard the LOFT space mission. We use the Van de Graaff accelerators at the University of T\"ubingen and at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics (MPIK) in Heidelberg, for soft proton and hyper-velocity dust tests respectively. We present the experimental set-up adopted to perform the tests, status of the activities and some very preliminary results achieved at present time., Comment: Proceedings of SPIE, Vol. 8443, Paper No. 8443-24, 2012

We present a high resolution spectrum of the diffuse X-ray background from 0.1 to 1 keV for a ~1 region of the sky centered at l=90, b=+60 using a 36-pixel array of microcalorimeters flown on a sounding rocket. With an energy resolution of 11 eV FWHM below 1 keV, the spectrum's observed line ratios help separate charge exchange contributions originating within the heliosphere from thermal emission of hot gas in the interstellar medium. The X-ray sensitivity below 1 keV was reduced by about a factor of four from contamination that occurred early in the flight, limiting the significance of the results. The observed centroid of helium-like O VII is 568+2-3 eV at 90% confidence. Since the centroid expected for thermal emission is 568.4 eV while for charge exchange is 564.2 eV, thermal emission appears to dominate for this line complex, consistent with much of the high-latitude O VII emission originating in 2-3 x 10^6 K gas in the Galactic halo. On the other hand, the observed ratio of C VI Ly gamma to Ly alpha is 0.3+-0.2. The expected ratios are 0.04 for thermal emission and 0.24 for charge exchange, indicating that charge exchange must contribute strongly to this line and therefore potentially to the rest of the ROSAT R12 band usually associated with 10^6 K emission from the Local Hot Bubble. The limited statistics of this experiment and systematic uncertainties due to the contamination require only >32% thermal emission for O VII and >20% from charge exchange for C VI at the 90% confidence level. An experimental gold coating on the silicon substrate of the array greatly reduced extraneous signals induced on nearby pixels from cosmic rays passing through the substrate, reducing the triggered event rate by a factor of 15 from a previous flight of the instrument., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, to be published in ApJ

We have measured K-shell x-ray spectra of highly ionized argon and phosphorus following charge exchange with molecular hydrogen at low collision energy in an electron beam ion trap using an x-ray calorimeter array with $\sim$6 eV resolution. We find that the emission at the high-end of the Lyman series is greater by a factor of 2 for phosphorus than for argon, even though the measurement was performed concurrently and the atomic numbers are similar. This does not agree with current theoretical models and deviates from the trend observed in previous measurements., Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures Accepted for publication in PRL

Results are presented of early X-ray afterglow observations of GRB 060105 by Swift and Suzaku. The bright, long gamma-ray burst GRB 060105 triggered the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) at 06:49:28 on 5 January 2006. The Suzaku team commenced a pre-planned target of opportunity observation at 19 ks (5.3 hr) after the Swift trigger. Following the prompt emission and successive very steep decay, a shallow decay was observed from T_0+187 s to T_0+1287 s. After an observation gap during T_0 +(1.5-3) ks, an extremely early steep decay was observed in T_0+(4-30) ks. The lightcurve flattened again at T_0+30 ks, and another steep decay followed from T_0+50 ks to the end of observations. Both steep decays exhibited decay indices of 2.3 - 2.4. This very early break, if it is a jet break, is the earliest case among X-ray afterglow observations, suggesting a very narrow jet whose opening angle is well below 1 degree. The unique Suzaku/XIS data allow us to set very tight upper limits on line emission or absorption in this GRB. For the reported pseudo-redshift of z=4.0+/-1.3 the upper limit on the iron line equivalent width is 50 eV., Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in PASJ Suzaku Special Issue (vol. 58)

X-ray emission following charge exchange has been studied on the University of California Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory electron beam ion traps EBIT-I and EBIT-II using a high-resolution microcalorimeter. The measured spectra include the K-shell emission from hydrogenlike and heliumlike C, N, O, and Ne needed for simulations of cometary x-ray emission. A comparison of the spectra produced in the interaction of O8+ with N2 and CH4 is presented that illustrates the dependence of the observed spectrum on the interaction gas., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures

A high spectral resolution observation of the diffuse X-ray background in the 60 - 1000 eV energy range has been made using an array of thirty-six 1 mm^2 micro-calorimeters flown on a sounding rocket. Detector energy resolution ranged from 5-12 eV FWHM, and a composite spectrum of ~ 1 steradian of the background centered at l = 90, b = +60 was obtained with a net resolution of ~ 9 eV. The target area includes bright 1/4 keV regions, but avoids Loop I and the North Polar Spur. Lines of C VI, O VII, and O VIII are clearly detected with intensities of 5.4 +/- 2.3, 4.8 +/- 0.8, and 1.6 +/- 0.4 photons cm^-2 s^-1 sr^-1, respectively. The oxygen lines alone account for a majority of the diffuse background observed in the ROSAT R4 band that is not due to resolved extragalactic discrete sources. We also have a positive detection of the Fe-M line complex near 70 eV at an intensity consistent with previous upper limits that indicate substantial gas phase depletion of iron. We include a detailed description of the instrument and its detectors., Comment: To appear in The Astrophysical Journal

The Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer observed the soft X-Ray transient Aql X-1 during its outburst in February and March 1997. We report the discovery of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in its persistent flux with frequencies in the range of 740 to 830 Hz, Q-value of over 100, and a fractional RMS amplitude of (6.8 +- 0.6)%, and nearly coherent oscillations (NCOs) during a Type-I burst with a frequency of 549 Hz. The frequency of the QPOs in the persistent flux is correlated with the mass accretion rate on time scale of hours, but not on time scale of days. This is most likely the manifestation in a single source of the kHz QPO puzzle observed among many sources, i.e., on the one hand, individual sources show a correlation between the QPO frequency and the inferred mass accretion rate, on the other hand, the dozen or so sources with luminosities spanning two decades have essentially the same QPO frequencies. We propose that this multi-valued QPO frequency and mass accretion rate correlation indicates the existence of many similar regimes of the accretion disk. These regimes, with a very similar energy spectrum and QPO frequency, are distinguished from each other by the mass accretion rate or the total X-ray flux. The NCOs during the burst can be made almost perfectly coherent by taking into account a large frequency derivative. This strongly suggests that this frequency is related to the neutron star spin frequency. The large frequency derivative is attributable to the expansion or contraction of the neutron star photosphere during the burst., Comment: 6 pages, LaTex (aas2pp4), Accepted for publication in ApJ Lett

In many superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters, the measured electrical noise exceeds theoretical estimates based on a thermal model of a single body thermally connected to a heat bath. Here, we report on noise and complex impedance measurements of a range of designs of TESs made with a Mo/Au bilayer. We have fitted the measured data using a two-body model, where the x-ray absorber and the TES are connected by an internal thermal conductance Gae. We find that the so-called excess noise measured in these devices is consistent with the noise generated from the internal thermal fluctuations between the x-ray absorber and the TES. Our fitted parameters are consistent with the origin of Gae being from the finite thermal conductance of the TES itself. These results suggest that even in these relatively low resistance Mo/Au TESs, the internal thermal conductance of the TES may add significant additional noise and could account for all the measured excess noise. Furthermore, we find that around regions of the superconducting transition with rapidly changing derivative of resistance with respect to temperature, an additional noise mechanism may dominate. These observations may lead to a greater understanding of TES devices and allow the design of TES microcalorimeters with improved performance.

The X-ray integral field unit (X-IFU) for ESA's Athena X-ray observatory will consist of 3840 AC-biased transition edge sensors (TESs), read out using frequency domain multiplexing (FDM). In this paper we describe details of the latest pixels geometries that are being designed for the current baseline array configuration. This includes details on how important TES properties (transition parameters, thermal design of the pixels, absorber composition) are being optimized to meet the target energy resolution, count-rate and quantum efficiency. We also present the latest design optimizations specifically targeted at mitigating AC-bias phenomena in Mo/Au TESs that can degrade performance.

Exploring the effects of size and geometry of normal metal features on the transition shapes and performance of transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters. The spectral resolution of transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters is very sensitive to the specific dependencies of the resistance R in the superconducting transition on the current I, magnetic field B, and temperature T. In particular, it has been shown that transitions that are very steep in (R,T) space lead to a significant noise term, in excess of conventional expectations. This so-called unexplained noise is known to be reduced by the addition of normal metal stripes across the TES perpendicular to the direction of current flow. These normal metal stripes have been shown to drastically alter the oscillatory patterns seen in measurements of the critical current as a function of magnetic field. However, there are many remaining questions about the exact impact of the stripes on current distributions within the TES, the Fraunhofer pattern and, therefore, the shape of the R(I, B, T) surface. Through measurements of the resistance under DC bias of TES devices of various sizes, with different stripe patterns and dimensions, we will discuss how these stripes can affect the R(I, B, T) surface. In addition, using measurements and analysis of the noise spectra of various devices we will present how these changes to the stripe pattern may affect the performance of the TES. In particular, we will discuss strategies to reduce the presence of localized discontinuities in the derivative of R, associated with increased noise, while maintaining the globally low levels of unexplained noise currently achieved with conventional metal stripe patterns. Implementing these strategies is a path towards producing large arrays with highly uniform transitions and high spectral resolution. These large uniform arrays will be required for future x-ray astronomy applications, such as the X-IFU on ATHENA.