Main Research Projects
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We are the PI institution for Micro-X, a
sounding rocket payload consisting of an X-ray
telescope with an effective area of 200 cm^2 focusing
X-rays onto an array of 128 superconducting
Transition-Edge Sensors (TES). The exquisite energy
resolution of these detectors (a resolving power of
1000 at 2 keV) will allow us to study bright, extended
X-ray astrophysical sources with unprecedented detail.
Our first target is the Puppis A supernova remnant. Our
first fligh is scheduled for February 2011.
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Over the last decade we have been
able to prove through experiment that 96% of the
Universe is made of invisible matter and fields of
which we know very little about. 25% of our Universe is
made up of an as-of-yet undiscovered substance called
"Dark Matter". We are members of the Cryogenic Dark
Matter Search (CDMS) experiment seeking to directly
detect dark matter using cryogenic detectors.
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IXO will
be NASA's flagship X-ray Observatory in the coming
decade. With this very powerful space telescope, we
will probe the inner regions around black holes,
measure Dark Energy, and investigate the structure and
evolution of the Universe. We are working with our
collaborators at the NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center to develop Position-Sensitive
Transition Edge Sensors (PoSTs) for the main detector
of this exciting mission.
Other Projects
We are also collaborating on the
following projects:
