arXiv subjects

Markus Gruber

Publications and source records attributed to Markus Gruber.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

EXPO: a quantum leap in fast, wide-band X-ray polarimetry for astrophysics

The Enhanced X-ray Polarimetry Observatory (EXPO) is a mission concept proposed to ESA as an M8 candidate, with a prospective launch in 2041. Building on the scientific success of IXPE, EXPO is designed to overcome its two main limitations, the narrow 2-8 keV energy band and the very slow repointing time, and to enable new scientific capabilities. A wide energy band and fast repointing are essential for investigating the hard X-ray emission of magnetars and black-hole binaries, particle acceleration in supernova remnants and pulsar-wind nebulae, radiative transfer in highly magnetized plasmas, X-ray reflection in accretion flows and active galactic nuclei, and the prompt and afterglow emission of gamma-ray bursts and magnetar flares. EXPO comprises five focusing X-ray telescopes and gas photoelectric polarimeters based on the Timepix ASIC family with InGrid amplification, enabling three-dimensional track imaging and operation in the 2-35 keV band through optimized low- and medium-energy detector configurations. The mirror modules use proven electroformed nickel technology with Au-C coatings and an XMM-like focal length of 7.5 m. The polarimeters are complemented by a coded-mask Wide Field Instrument (WFI), derived from SVOM/ECLAIRs for continuous monitoring of a 2 sr field of view; a Spectral Imaging Camera (SIC), based on stacked CMOS and CdTe detectors for broadband imaging spectroscopy and accurate spectro-polarimetric decomposition; and an Instrument Control Unit (ICU) for payload management, onboard WFI image reconstruction, transient identification, and autonomous spacecraft repointing requests. These capabilities extend X-ray polarimetry into the hard X-ray domain and open a new observational window on fast transients, time-domain astrophysics, and multi-messenger astronomy.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

A Focal-plane X-ray Polarimeter with Spectral and Timing Capabilities for Future Missions

The NASA-ASI mission Imaging X-ray Polarimeter Explorer (IXPE) firmly established X-ray polarimetry as a core observation pillar of high-energy astrophysics, alongside imaging, timing, and spectroscopy. While IXPE made groundbreaking discoveries in the 2$-$8 keV range on both point and extended X-ray sources, the Gas Pixel Detectors onboard IXPE demand substantial improvements to be ready for the next generation of imaging X-ray polarimeters. Here, we present the development of a detector prototype that can deliver the next generation of sensitive imaging X-ray polarimetry across the energy band of 2--30 keV. We use Ar/DME based gas volume to absorb X-rays by the photoelectric effect and a pixelated CMOS readout ASIC, Timepix3, with excellent timing capabilities to image the resulting photoelectron track in three dimensions. The Timepix3 is integrated with a multiplication stage called InGrid that enables single-primary-electron detection from the gas volume. The photoelectron track reconstructed in three dimensions increases the polarimetric sensitivity towards the lowest operable energies, and the deadtime-free operation of the ASIC facilitates the usage as a focal plane instrument on high-throughput X-ray mirrors. With this prototype, we demonstrate a low-medium-energy X-ray polarimeter with excellent timing and moderate spectral capabilities.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Instruments for Focal Plane X-Ray Polarimetry in the Next Decade

The successful detection of X-ray polarization from many celestial sources belonging to different classes by the IXPE mission has opened a new window in X-ray astronomy. While an impressive number of scientific topics have already been addressed by IXPE, many of them would benefit from a new class of instrumentation that could be launched on a relatively short time scale. In this contribution, we present the development activities of a focal-plane polarimeter whose goal is to extend the energy range of IXPE up to tens of keV, with better sensitivity and lower background. Our design is based on the use of multilayer mirrors and stacked instrumentation, comprising either a low- or medium-energy imaging photoelectric polarimeter and an active Compton polarimeter. Such an approach relies on hardware with flight heritage and -- although still under development for the specific application in X-ray polarimetry -- it has the potential to answer compelling scientific questions and to soon become competitive from the point of view of feasibility for space applications.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

Crystal structure effects on vortex dynamics in superconducting MgB$_2$ thin films

The current-driven resistive transition is central to superconducting single-photon detectors, transition-edge sensors, and fluxonic devices. Depending on sample uniformity, dimensions, and heat removal, it can be driven by phase-slip events, flux-flow instabilities (FFI), or normal-domain formation. Here, we investigate the influence of two types of microstructural defects on vortex dynamics in MgB$_2$ films: columnar growth in textured films and buffer-layer roughness in single-crystal films. The current-voltage ($I$-$V$) curves measured at $T \approx 0.25 T_\mathrm{c}$ for both films exhibit multiple steps. Time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau simulations reproduce the major features of the experimental $I$-$V$ curves and suggest that the resistive transitions for both films are mediated by the formation and growth of normal domains rather than FFI. The single-crystal film with buffer-layer roughness exhibits superconductivity breakdown at higher currents and pinning activation energies approximately twice those of the textured film, along with more pronounced multi-step features in the $I$-$V$ curves. These features are attributed to the combination of stronger pinning induced by lateral variations of the superconducting order parameter along the MgO buffer layer and its lower thermal boundary resistance. Our results show that both the film microstructure and the film-buffer interface are critical for the resistive transition, offering insights for superconducting devices requiring controlled dissipation at high transport currents.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

The legacy of the IXPE instrument and prospects for the next generation of polarimetric photoelectric X-ray detectors

Imaging X-ray polarimetry with IXPE has demonstrated the scientific potential of the technique but also revealed the need for significant detector upgrades, particularly with the read-out ASIC that images photoelectron tracks and possibly the multiplication stage. Building on this experience, we are developing a next generation three-dimensional photoelectron track polarimeter based on the GridPix detector, originally developed for axion and axion-like-particle searches. We report on the current status of prototype development and preparations for the ion-irradiation tests. Preliminary proton beam irradiation runs at the Bonn Isochronous Cyclotron facility of the University of Bonn verified both this generation of ASIC's tolerance to high radiation doses present in space and the capability of the cyclotron facility to operate at sufficiently low rates for controlled tests.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2024

A Proposal for the Lohengrin Experiment to Search for Dark Sector Particles at the ELSA Accelerator

We present a proposal for a future light dark matter search experiment at the Electron Stretcher Accelerator ELSA in Bonn: Lohengrin. It employs the fixed-target missing momentum based technique for searching for dark-sector particles. The Lohengrin experiment uses a high intensity electron beam that is shot onto a thin target to produce mainly SM bremsstrahlung and - in rare occasions - possibly new particles coupling feebly to the electron. A well motivated candidate for such a new particle is the dark photon, a new massive gauge boson arising from a new gauge interaction in a dark sector and mixing kinetically with the standard model photon. The Lohengrin experiment is estimated to reach sensitivity to couplings small enough to explain the relic abundance of dark matter in various models for dark photon masses between approximately 1 MeV and approximately 100 MeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Towards imaging-spectro-polarimetry of solar flares in the X-rays

X-ray polarimetry of solar flares is still a not well established field of observation of our star. Past polarimeters were not able to measure with a high significance the polarization in X-rays from solar flares. Moreover, they had no imaging capabilities and measured only the polarization by integrating on all the image of the source. We propose a mission concept based on a gas photoelectric polarimeter, coupled with multilayer lobster-eye optics, to perform imaging-spectro-polarimetry of solar flares while monitoring the entire solar disc.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2022

Particle Physics Readout Electronics and Novel Detector Technologies for Neutron Science

Traditional thermal neutron detectors are based on Helium-3 as conversion and detection material due to its large neutron cross-section. In light of the upgrade and construction of several neutron scattering facilities such as the European Spallation Source (ESS) and a simultaneous shortage of Helium-3, new detection technologies have been introduced. The most prominent one is to use solid converts with a large thermal neutron cross-section such as Gadolinium and Boron. Those materials emit charged particles when hit by a neutron. The technique then relies on detection and/or tracking of the charged particle, as in detectors of particle physics. At the same time, this requires an increase of the readout channels by an order of magnitude with the advantage of also increasing the position resolution by the same amount compared to traditional neutron detectors. A prime example is the Gadolinium Gas Electron Multiplier (GdGEM) detector for the NMX instrument at ESS jointly developed by the CERN Gaseous Detector Group and the ESS Detector Group. In this contribution, some of our efforts to transfer particle physics detectors and readout electronics to neutron science will be presented. We employed the VMM3a chip, originally designed for the ATLAS New Small Wheel upgrade, to read out a GEM-based neutron detector. The Timepix3 chip is employed in a neutron Time Projection Chamber as well as to read out a neutron-sensitive Micro-Channel Plate detector. Those readout chips are integrated into the Scalable Readout System of the RD51 collaboration.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Performance of the GridPix detector quad

A gaseous pixel readout module with four GridPix chips, called the quad, has been developed as a building block for a large time projection chamber readout plane. The quad module has dimensions 39.6 mm $\times$ 28.38 mm and an active surface coverage of 68.9%. The GridPix chip consists of a Timepix3 chip with integrated amplification grid and have a high efficiency to detect single ionisation electrons, which enable to make a precise track position measurement. A quad module was installed in a small time projection chamber and measurements of 2.5 GeV electrons were performed at the ELSA accelerator in Bonn, where a silicon telescope was used to provide a reference track. The error on the track position measurement, both in the pixel plane and drift direction, is dominated by diffusion. The quad was designed to have minimum electrical field inhomogeneities and distortions, achieving systematics of better than 13 $μ$m in the pixel plane. The resolution of the setup is 41 $μ$m, where the total systematic error of the quad detector is 24 $μ$m.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2019

Critical force in active microrheology

Soft solids like colloidal glasses exhibit a yield stress, above which the system starts to flow. The microscopic analogon in microrheology is the delocalization of a tracer particle subject to an external force exceeding a threshold value, in a glassy host. We characterize this delocalization transition based on a bifurcation analysis of the corresponding mode-coupling theory equations. A schematic model is presented first, that allows analytical progress, and the full physical model is studied numerically next. This analysis yields a continuous type A transition with a critical power law decay of the probe correlation functions with exponent $-1/2$. In order to compare with simulations with a limited duration, a finite time analysis is performed, which yields reasonable results for not-too-small wave vectors. The theoretically predicted findings are verified by Langevin dynamics simulations. For small wave vectors we find anomalous behavior for the probe position correlation function, which can be traced back to a wave vector divergence of the critical amplitude. In addition we propose and test three methods to extract the critical force from experimental data, which provide the same value of the critical force when applied to the finite-time theory or simulations.

cond-mat.soft↗

arXiv2019

Observation of strongly heterogeneous dynamics at the depinning transition in a colloidal glass

We study experimentally the origin of heterogeneous dynamics in strongly driven glass-forming systems. Thereto, we apply a well-defined force with a laser line trap on individual colloidal polystyrene probe particles seeded in an emulsion glass composed of droplets of the same size. Fluid and glass states can be probed. We monitor the trajectories of the probe and measure displacements and their distributions. Our experiments reveal intermittent dynamics around a depinning transition at a threshold force. For smaller forces, linear response connects mean displacement and quiescent mean squared displacement. Mode coupling theory calculations rationalize the observations.

cond-mat.soft↗