Maintenance in progress… please visit us later.
Following the reformulation of the NewAthena mission, a new set of X-IFU resources is now available for download at the link below. Check the INSTRUCTIONS.README file for a description of the response files distributed. The files are intended to be used for the mission adoption, the red book and the newAthena special issue. Mirror resource products for the baseline mission configuration are available from :https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/athena/resources-by-esa As of March 2024, the X-IFU team considers a mirror of 13 rows as the baseline and an instrument spectral resolution of 4 eV. However, we wish to keep an X-IFU internal goal design of 3 eV. Thus we also release response files with 3 eV, understanding that this is not the baseline. You will find information on the instrument efficiency assumed in generating these response files in Barret et al. (Experimental Astronomy, 2023) and Peille et al. (Experimental Astronomy, 2025). Please refer to this paper if you intend to use those response files in your work. Thanks !
The X-IFU non X-ray background files were originally produced by the IAPS/INAF group led by Simone Lotti. They are provided for different extraction regions. See the INSTRUCTIONS.README for use. Please see Lotti et al. (The Astrophysical Journal, 2021) for a review of the X-IFU particle background.
SIXTE is a software package for X-ray telescope observation simulations developed at the Remeis Observatory (ECAP). It allows to undertake instrument performance analyses and to produce simulated event files for X-IFU and other instruments.
The SPIE meeting 2026 was the opportunity to present X-IFU as it stands today, as we move towards the start of the mission adoption process, to be concluded in June 2027. The overview presentation given by Philippe Peille (CNES, Instrument manager) showed the status of X-IFU, and presented all the demonstration activities that are on-going. […]
A recent paper by Smith et al., « Transition-edge sensor characteristics in a modified bias circuit for multiplexed readout, »has been accepted for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity. The work addresses an important aspect of X-IFU detector readout: the impact of incorporating a bypass resistor into the bias circuit used for time-division multiplexing (TDM). […]
A major milestone has been reached beginning of October 2025 in the development of the Warm Front-End Electronics (WFEE) for the ATHENA X-IFU detection chain with the successful coupling of WFEE demonstrator model 2 (DM2) during the Focal Plane Assembly (FPA) DM1.1 test campaign at SRON (Space Research Organisation Netherlands). The WFEE, developed by APC […]
Image above : The CryoAC demonstration prototype integrated in the detectors flange of the Focal Plane Assembly Demonstration Model 1.1. Image credit: SRON. The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) is the cryogenic instrument onboard NewAthena mission. In the late 30s, it will transform our understanding of the hottest components and the most energetic phenomena in […]
SRON is responsible for building the camera for the X-IFU imaging spectrometer onboard the NewAthena X-ray space telescope. A latest Demonstration Model has now been successfully assembled in SRON’s cleanroom and is mounted into a cryogenic test setup which cools the detector stage to a temperature of 50 milliKelvin. In the late 30s , ESA […]
The paper titled « Wide Band Transmission Response of the Filters for the X-IFU Detector of the Athena Observatory », presented at ICSO 2024, investigates the optical blocking filters used in the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) aboard the Athena space observatory. These filters, composed of polyimide films coated with aluminum, are designed to block out-of-band radiation—such as […]