ADR design for the Soft X-ray Spectrometer instrument on the Astro-H mission Original Research Article

In its instrument suite, the Japanese Astro-H mission will include the Soft X-ray Spectrometer (SXS), whose 36-pixel detector array of ultra-sensitive X-ray microcalorimeters will be cooled to 50 mK. This will be accomplished using a two-stage adiabatic demagnetization refrigerator (ADR). A complicating factor for its design is that the ADR will be integrated into a superfluid helium dewar at 1.3 K that will be coupled to a 1.8 K Joule–Thomson (JT) stage through a heat switch. When liquid helium is present, the coupling will be weak, and the JT stage will act primarily as a shield to reduce parasitic heat loads. When the liquid is depleted, the heat switch will couple more strongly so that the ADR can continue to operate using the JT stage as its heat sink. A two-stage ADR is the most mass efficient option and it has the operational flexibility to work well with a stored cryogen and a cryocooler. The ADR’s design and operating modes are discussed, with emphasis on how they reflect the capabilities and limitations of the hybrid cryogenic system.