X-ray detectors based on micro-calorimeter technology combine the broad bandwidth of standard solid-state x-ray detectors with a very high resolution comparable to crystal spectrometers. While such detector systems will offer unique experimental possibilities at the future FAIR facility, the complexity of the detector design and operation requires detailed planning and close collaboration between detector developers and experimentalists.
On the 31st of January the first workshop on the application of micro-calorimeters within SPARC, the atomic physics research collaboration at FAIR, was held at HI-Jena. About 40 scientists from the universities of Jena, Frankfurt, Giessen and Paris as well as from EMMI, GSI and HI-Jena took part in the discussions.
Besides the application of micro-calorimeters at FAIR, the workshop was also used to define a road map for the commissioning of the novel maXs calorimeter and very first test experiments.