Waveform Analysis of a 240-Pixel TES Array for X-Rays and Charged Particles Using a Function of Triggering Neighboring Pixels

• Published in: Journal of low temperature physics Vol. 200; no. 5-6; pp. 269 - 276
• Main Authors: Hayakawa, R., Yamada, S., Tatsuno, H., Fowler, J. W., Swetz, D. S., Bennett, D. A., Durkin, M., O’Neil, G. C., Ullom, J. N., Doriese, W. B., Reintsema, C. D., Gard, J. D., Okada, S., Hashimoto, T., Ichinohe, Y., Noda, H., Hayashi, T.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01-09-2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Charged particles; Condensed Matter Physics; Crosstalk; Diagnostic software; Diagnostic systems; Low temperature physics; Magnetic Materials; Magnetism; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Pixels; Proton accelerators; Sensor arrays; Waveforms; X-rays; Transition-edge sensors (TESs); X-ray astronomy; Superconducting detector
• ISSN: 0022-2291; 1573-7357
• DOI: 10.1007/s10909-020-02449-8

A useful function, called group trigger, is implemented in a data acquisition system of a 240-pixel X-ray transition-edge sensor array to store simultaneous waveforms from any desired set of pixels. It works as a diagnostic tool which can record both primary pulses and associated crosstalk events with enough freedom to optimize the data output. Under a high rate of charged particle background, such as in an accelerator, investigating signals from any combination of trigger patterns for a particular event is of high importance. We utilized this function throughout an entire experiment at J-PARC, measuring kaonic atom X-rays in 2018. This was the first time a group trigger was applied to exotic-atom spectroscopy. In this experiment, the primary trigger was distributed to the four physical nearest neighbor pixels for practical purposes. The function clarified the effect of thermal and electrical cross talk from X-rays and charged particles, resulting in a better understanding of the behavior of the TES array in such a high-background environment.