Improving the Energy and Angular Resolutions of X-ray Telescopes with a Quantum Diamond Microscope

We describe a novel focal plane X-ray detector proposal, comprised of a magnetic microcalorimeter (MMC) array of paramagnetic absorber pads, read-out using a quantum diamond microscope with a thin layer of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers. An impinging X-ray photon induces a temperature transient in an absorber pad. The time- and temperature-dependent magnetic field transient of the absorber is then optically imaged with the magnetically-sensitive NV centers positioned directly below. In contrast to X-ray detectors based on arrays of Transition Edge Sensors with microcalorimeters, or other X-ray detector developments using SQUID MMCs, our NV-MMC detection scheme eliminates thermal couplings between the absorber pads and the readout. Our optical NV readout could eventually be expanded to simultaneously diagnose millions of pixels without requiring increasingly complex electronic multiplexing schemes, paving the way for future detectors with even more precise angular resolutions and enhanced fields-of-view.