Ground calibration plan for the Athena/X-IFU microcalorimeter spectrometer
Abstract
The X-ray Integral Field Unit is the X-ray imaging spectrometer on board one of ESA’s next large missions, Athena. Athena is set to investigate the theme of the Hot and Energetic Universe, with a launch planned in the late-2030s. Based on a high-sensitivity transition edge sensor (TES) detector array operated at very low temperature (50 mK), X-IFU will provide spatially resolved high-resolution spectroscopy of the X-ray sky in the 0.2 to 12 keV energy band, with an energy resolution goal of 4 eV up to 7 keV [3 eV design goal]. This paper presents the current calibration plan of the X-IFU. It provides the requirements applicable to the X-IFU calibration, describes the overall calibration strategy, and details the procedure and sources needed for the ground calibration of each parameter or characteristics of the X-IFU.
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BibTeX
@article{molin2026ground,
title = {{Ground calibration plan for the Athena/X-IFU microcalorimeter spectrometer}},
author = {Alexeï Molin and François Pajot and Marc Audard and Marco Barbera and Sophie Beaumont and Edoardo Cucchetti and Matteo D’andrea and Christophe Daniel and Roland den Hartog and Megan Eckart and Philippe Ferrando and Luciano Gottardi and Maurice Leutenegger and Simone Lotti and Lorenzo Natalucci and Philippe Peille and Jelle de Plaa and Etienne Pointecouteau and Scott Porter and Kosuke Sato and Jörn Wilms and Vincent Albouys and Didier Barret and Massimo Cappi and Jan-Willem den Herder and Luigi Piro and Aurora Simionescu},
journal = {Journal of Astronomical Telescopes Instruments and Systems},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1117/1.jatis.12.2.024008},
eprint = {2507.01525},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05847352v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Ground calibration plan for the Athena/X-IFU microcalorimeter spectrometer
AU - Alexeï Molin
AU - François Pajot
AU - Marc Audard
AU - Marco Barbera
AU - Sophie Beaumont
AU - Edoardo Cucchetti
AU - Matteo D’andrea
AU - Christophe Daniel
AU - Roland den Hartog
AU - Megan Eckart
AU - Philippe Ferrando
AU - Luciano Gottardi
AU - Maurice Leutenegger
AU - Simone Lotti
AU - Lorenzo Natalucci
AU - Philippe Peille
AU - Jelle de Plaa
AU - Etienne Pointecouteau
AU - Scott Porter
AU - Kosuke Sato
AU - Jörn Wilms
AU - Vincent Albouys
AU - Didier Barret
AU - Massimo Cappi
AU - Jan-Willem den Herder
AU - Luigi Piro
AU - Aurora Simionescu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/10
JO - Journal of Astronomical Telescopes Instruments and Systems
DO - 10.1117/1.jatis.12.2.024008
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05847352v1
AB - The X-ray Integral Field Unit is the X-ray imaging spectrometer on board one of ESA’s next large missions, Athena. Athena is set to investigate the theme of the Hot and Energetic Universe, with a launch planned in the late-2030s. Based on a high-sensitivity transition edge sensor (TES) detector array operated at very low temperature (50 mK), X-IFU will provide spatially resolved high-resolution spectroscopy of the X-ray sky in the 0.2 to 12 keV energy band, with an energy resolution goal of 4 eV up to 7 keV [3 eV design goal]. This paper presents the current calibration plan of the X-IFU. It provides the requirements applicable to the X-IFU calibration, describes the overall calibration strategy, and details the procedure and sources needed for the ground calibration of each parameter or characteristics of the X-IFU.
SN - 2329-4124
SN - 2329-4221
ER -