A transition-edge sensor-based x-ray spectrometer for the study of highly charged ions at the National Institute of Standards and Technology electron beam ion trap

Published

December 16, 2019

Author(s)

Paul Szypryt, Galen C. O'Neil, Endre Takacs, Joseph N. Tan, Sean W. Buechele, Aung Naing, Douglas A. Bennett, William B. Doriese, Malcolm S. Durkin, Joseph W. Fowler, Johnathon D. Gard, Gene C. Hilton, Kelsey M. Morgan, Carl D. Reintsema, Daniel R. Schmidt, Daniel S. Swetz, Joel N. Ullom, Yuri Ralchenko

Abstract

We report on the design, commissioning, and initial measurements of a Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) x-ray spectrometer for the Electron Beam Ion Trap (EBIT) at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Over the past few decades, the NIST EBIT has produced numerous studies of highly charged ions in diverse fields such as atomic physics, plasma spectroscopy, and laboratory astrophysics. The newly commissioned NIST EBIT TES Spectrometer (NETS) improves the measurement capabilities of the EBIT through a combination of high x-ray collection efficiency and resolving power. NETS utilizes 192 individual TES x-ray microcalorimeters (166/192 yield) to improve upon the collection area by a factor of ̃30 over the 4-pixel neutron transmutation doped germanium-based microcalorimeter spectrometer previously used at the NIST EBIT. The NETS microcalorimeters are optimized for the x-ray energies from roughly 500 eV to 8000 eV and achieve an energy resolution of 3.7 eV-5.0 eV over this range, a more modest (<2x) improvement over the previous microcalorimeters. Beyond this energy range, NETS can operate with various trade-offs, the most significant of which are reduced efficiency at lower energies and being limited to a subset of the pixels at higher energies. As an initial demonstration of the capabilities of NETS, we measured transitions in He-like and H-like O, Ne, and Ar as well as Ni-like W. We detail the energy calibration and data analysis techniques used to transform detector counts into x-ray spectra, a process that will be the basis for analyzing future data.

Citation

Review of Scientific Instruments

Volume

90

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5116717

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Keywords

Transition-Edge Sensor, TES, x-ray spectrometer, Electron Beam Ion Trap, EBIT, NIST, National Institute of Standards and Technology, highly charged ions, atomic physics, plasma spectroscopy, laboratory astrophysics

Citation

Szypryt, P. , O'Neil, G. , Takacs, E. , Tan, J. , Buechele, S. , Naing, A. , Bennett, D. , Doriese, W. , Durkin, M. , Fowler, J. , Gard, J. , Hilton, G. , Morgan, K. , Reintsema, C. , Schmidt, D. , Swetz, D. , Ullom, J. and Ralchenko, Y. (2019), A transition-edge sensor-based x-ray spectrometer for the study of highly charged ions at the National Institute of Standards and Technology electron beam ion trap, Review of Scientific Instruments, [online], https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5116717 (Accessed May 10, 2024)