The INFN-LNF Astrophysics and Cosmology Integrated Test Facility Startup

Abstract

Starting from January 2023, Permanent Staff Personnel and Associated Personnel of INFN-LNF (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare—Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati) have founded, and are setting up, the local Astrophysics and Cosmology Team (ACT). The INFN-LNF ACT joined the initial development phases of one of the forthcoming (early 2030) next-generation cosmology space-borne probes, with particular emphasis on (1) thermal balance tests (and correlation to models) of the electronics of interest; (2) (non)destructive irradiation tests of the electronics of interest and X-ray circuitry diagnostics on a specifically dedicated and instrumented optical bench; and (3) joining the simulation-related, and data analysis-related, activities, at both the cosmological and instrumental levels. The INFN-LNF ACT has constituted an Integrated Test Facility (ITF), which is being instrumented in a dedicated space and will also make use of the pre-existing INFN-LNF infrastructures. In the following, as a first contribution, mainly related to what was completed in late 2023 and early 2024, the activities of the commissioning and setup of the so-called ‘pocket’ cryostat are described, linking them to the envisaged thermal balance tests (and correlation to the models) of the electronics of interest. While mainly devoted to cosmology-oriented tasks, the INFN-LNF ACT ‘pocket’ cryostat will, in principle, be available to the wider community for other dedicated activities.