The x-ray microcalorimeter on the NeXT mission

Abstract

The Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS) onboard the NeXT (New exploration X-ray Telescope) is an X-ray spectrometer utilizing an X-ray microcalorimeter array. Combined with the soft X-ray telescope of 6 m focal length, the instrument will have a ~ 290cm 2 effective at 6.7 keV. With the large effective area and the energy resolution as good as 6 eV (FWHM), the instrument is very suited for the high-resolution spectroscopy of iron K emission line. One of the major scientific objectives of SXS is to determine turbulent and/or macroscopic motions of the hot gas in clusters of galaxies of up to z ~ 1. The instruments will use 6 × 6 or 8 × 8 format microcalorimeter array which is similar to that of Suzaku XRS. The detector will be cooled to a cryogenic temperature of 50 mK by multi-stage cooling system consisting of adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator, super fluid He, a 3He Joule Thomson cooler, and double-stage stirling cycle cooler.