Progress in the development of frequency domain multiplexing...
By Hiroki Akamatsu
I am working at SRON on the development of the FPA (Focal plane assembly) of X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) instrument on Athena. I concentrate on the X-ray microcalorimeter array as a backup option and the development of the readout technology of the X-IFU instrument.
The presented work shows the progress we made last years on the readout technology at SRON together with US and Finnish colleagues. We have demonstrated frequency domain multiplexing technology with a spectral resolution of 2.6 eV with 9-pixel multiplexed. We have also demonstrated 14-pixel multiplexing with an average energy resolution of 3.3 eV, which is limited by non-fundamental issues related to the readout technology in our lab setup.