Transition Edge Sensors devices ‘Made in Spain’: from fabrication to photon energy measurements

Abstract

Under the coordinated national project RTI2018-096686-B-C2, the collaboration among research groups at ICMA(CSIC-UZ), ICMAB(CSIC) and IFCA(CSIC-UC)+UCM has developed for the first time in Spain an instrumental setup to fabricate Transition Edge Sensors (TES), measure the detected X-ray pulses in the lab and reconstruct those pulses to establish the photons energies. TES are very sensitive detectors, with a high spectral resolution specially optimized for X-ray energies, like the ones that are the base for the X-IFU instrument that will be on board the ESA mission Athena. But they can be also designed to work at other wavelengths. This achievement opens the path in Spain for the local development of this cutting-edge technology specially suited for the astronomical research.