We have been developing Kyoto's X-ray astronomy SOI pixel sensors, called “XRPIX”, aiming to extend the frontiers of X-ray astronomy with the wide-band imaging spectroscopy in the 0.5–40 keV band. A dead layer on the X-ray incident surface should ideally be as thin as possible to achieve a high sensitivity below 1 keV, and the depletion layer is required to be thick enough to detect 40 keV X-rays. Thus, we have started developing fully-depleted back-side illuminated (BI) types of XRPIXs. This paper reports on our first two BI devices and their X-ray evaluation (2.6–12 keV). The device named “XRPIX2b-FZ-LA” successfully reaches a full depletion with a thickness of 500 μm. On the other hand, it has a dead layer with a thickness of 1.1–1.5 μm and struggles to achieve the requirement of 1.0 μm. The other device named “XRPIX2b-CZ-PZ”, which is applied with a thin Si sensor-layer and an improved back-side process, is found to satisfy the requirement with its thickness of 0.9–1.0 μm, including Al optical blocking filter of 0.2 μm, although the Si sensor-layer is rather thin with 62 μm. We also describe in this paper the X-ray calibration system that we have built for the X-ray evaluation of XRPIXs.

Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) are among the most abundant and ubiquitous microorganisms in the ocean, exerting primary control on nitrification and nitrogen oxides emission. Although united by a common physiology of chemoautotrophic growth on ammonia, a corresponding high genomic and habitat variability suggests tremendous adaptive capacity. Here, we compared 44 diverse AOA genomes, 37 from species cultivated from samples collected across diverse geographic locations and seven assembled from metagenomic sequences from the mesopelagic to hadopelagic zones of the deep ocean. Comparative analysis identified seven major marine AOA genotypic groups having gene content correlated with their distinctive biogeographies. Phosphorus and ammonia availabilities as well as hydrostatic pressure were identified as selective forces driving marine AOA genotypic and gene content variability in different oceanic regions. Notably, AOA methylphosphonate biosynthetic genes span diverse oceanic provinces, reinforcing their importance for methane production in the ocean. Together, our combined comparative physiological, genomic, and metagenomic analyses provide a comprehensive view of the biogeography of globally abundant AOA and their adaptive radiation into a vast range of marine and terrestrial habitats.