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H. V. Prentice-Mott (University of Pennsylvania), E. H. Silver (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)
A microcalorimeter is an x-ray detector that combines the broad bandwidth response of a traditional solid-state ionization detector with an energy resolving power approaching that of a Bragg crystal. The cryostat that is used to cool the microcalorimeter to 60 mK contains several filters that serve as thermal barriers along the line of site to the detector. At energies below 1 keV, the transmission of the filters is less than unity. The transmission of these filters must be determined in order to properly interpret the x-ray spectra measured by the microcalorimeter. Up to now, the transmission efficiency has been calculated using well-known mass absorption cross sections for the material properties of the filters. We are currently fabricating a system that will measure their transmission efficiency in-situ. Details will be presented. This research was supported by the NSF REU program at SAO.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.