OPTIMIZATION OF A TWO-STAGE ADR FOR THE SOFT X-RAY SPECTROMETER (SXS) INSTRUMENT ON THE ASTRO-H MISSION

Abstract

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center has begun developing the Soft X‐ray Spectrometer (SXS) instrument that will be flown on the Japanese Astro‐H mission. The SXS’s 36‐pixel detector array will be cooled to 50 mK using a two‐stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). A complicating factor for its design is that the ADR will be integrated into a superfluid helium dewar at 1.3 K that will be coupled to a 1.8 K Joule‐Thomson (JT) stage through a heat switch. When liquid helium is present, the coupling will be weak, and the JT stage will act primarily as a shield to reduce parasitic heat loads. When the liquid is depleted, the heat switch will couple more strongly so that the ADR can continue to operate using the JT stage as its heat sink. A two‐stage ADR is the most mass efficient option and it has the operational flexibility to work well with a stored cryogen and a cryocooler. The stages are operated independently, and this opens up a very large parameter space for optimizing the design. This paper discusses the optimization process and most relevant trades considered in the design of the SXS ADR, and its expected performance.