@article{Morgan:2026:10.1109/TASC.2026.3672351,
author = {Morgan, K and Azuma, T and Baptista, G and Becker, D and Bennett, D and Butin, F and Dean, JW and Eizenberg, O and Fowler, JW and Fujioka, H and Gamba, D and Gard, JD and Garroum, N and Guerra, M and Hashimoto, T and Higuchi, T and Hori, M and Indelicato, P and Keller, M and Machado, J and Mates, JAB and Nakamura, N and Nobles, J and Nez, F and Ohayon, B and Okada, S and Ortiz, N and Rathi, S and Roosa, M and Rousse, JY and Saito, T and Schmidt, D and Senetaire, Q and Sommerfeldt, J and Szypryt, P and Ullom, J and Weber, J and Yzombard, P and Zito, M and Paul, N and Swetz, D},
doi = {10.1109/TASC.2026.3672351},
journal = {IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity},
title = {Transition-Edge Sensor Spectrometer for Precision Spectroscopy of Antiprotonic Atoms},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2026.3672351},
volume = {36},
year = {2026}
}

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TY  - JOUR
AB  - antiProtonic Atom X-ray (PAX) spectroscopy is an experiment that aims to test strong-field quantum electrodynamics (QED) effects by performing high-precision X-ray spectroscopy of antiprotonic atoms. PAX will use a low-energy antiproton beam provided by the Extra Low ENergy Antiproton (ELENA) ring at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) to create antiprotonic atoms. A superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) spectrometer will be used to measure the energy of transitions between circular Rydberg states in these atoms. The energy range of interest for the experiment spans 50 keV to 250 keV, and the desired precision for measuring the centroids of the emission lines is 10^{-5}. The spectrometer for PAX is intended to have four 96-pixel TES arrays and will be read out with a microwave superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) multiplexer. As a step toward building the full instrument, we built a scaled-down version of the spectrometer that was installed at the TEst Line for Machine And Antimatter eXperiments (TELMAX) facility at ELENA in April 2025. The purpose of this deployment was to make an observation of X-ray emission by antiprotonic atoms and to better understand the effect of the pionic charged particle background due to antiproton annihilation on the performance of the TES array. This pilot spectrometer had an array of 60 TES pixels in a compact adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator cryostat. The sensors were read out with a microwave SQUID multiplexer. Each pixel consisted of a molybdenum/gold bilayer TES with a coplanar gold “landing pad” for a bulk tin absorber that was attached by an epoxy joint. We discuss the design of the TES pixels, the microwave SQUID readout, and the cryogenic platform. Finally, we present calibration data obtained at TELMAX using radioactive sources to assess the performance of the spectrometer in the antiproton beam-off condition.
AU  - Morgan,K
AU  - Azuma,T
AU  - Baptista,G
AU  - Becker,D
AU  - Bennett,D
AU  - Butin,F
AU  - Dean,JW
AU  - Eizenberg,O
AU  - Fowler,JW
AU  - Fujioka,H
AU  - Gamba,D
AU  - Gard,JD
AU  - Garroum,N
AU  - Guerra,M
AU  - Hashimoto,T
AU  - Higuchi,T
AU  - Hori,M
AU  - Indelicato,P
AU  - Keller,M
AU  - Machado,J
AU  - Mates,JAB
AU  - Nakamura,N
AU  - Nobles,J
AU  - Nez,F
AU  - Ohayon,B
AU  - Okada,S
AU  - Ortiz,N
AU  - Rathi,S
AU  - Roosa,M
AU  - Rousse,JY
AU  - Saito,T
AU  - Schmidt,D
AU  - Senetaire,Q
AU  - Sommerfeldt,J
AU  - Szypryt,P
AU  - Ullom,J
AU  - Weber,J
AU  - Yzombard,P
AU  - Zito,M
AU  - Paul,N
AU  - Swetz,D
DO  - 10.1109/TASC.2026.3672351
PY  - 2026///
SN  - 1051-8223
TI  - Transition-Edge Sensor Spectrometer for Precision Spectroscopy of Antiprotonic Atoms
T2  - IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2026.3672351
VL  - 36
ER  - 

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