Development of an End-to-End Demonstration Readout Chain for Athena/X-IFU

The X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) of the Athena observatory, scheduled for launch in the mid 2030's, will provide X-ray spectroscopy data with unprecedented spectral and spatial resolution. This will be achieved with a 2 kilo-pixel array of transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters. The complete detection chain is under development by a large international collaboration. In order to perform an end-to-end demonstration of the X-IFU readout chain, a 50 mK test bench is being developed at IRAP in collaboration with CNES. The test bench uses a two-stage ADR cryostat from Entropy GmbH, a 1024-pixel array, and will initially be operated using a warm electronics chain from NIST and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. We describe the complete system being installed in the cryostat and the current results obtained with these electronics. We also review the status of the integration of the digital readout electronics (DRE) prototype into the demonstration chain and the plan for integrating and testing the complete X-IFU readout chain.