Metallic magnetic calorimeters
- Universitaet Heidelberg, Kirchhoff-Institut fuer Physik, INF 227, 69120 Heidelberg (Germany)
- Department of Physics, Brown University, Box 1843, Providence, RI 02912 (United States)
Metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMC) are calorimetric particle detectors, typically operated at temperatures below 100 mK, that make use of a paramagnetic temperature sensor to transform the temperature rise upon the absorption of a particle in the detector into a measurable magnetic flux change in a dc-SQUID. During the last years a growing number of groups has started to develop MMC for a wide variety of applications, ranging from alpha-, beta- and gamma-spectrometry over the spatially resolved detection of accelerated molecule fragments to arrays of high resolution x-ray detectors. For x-rays with energies up to 6 keV an energy resolution of 2.7 eV (FWHM) has been demonstrated and we expect that this can be pushed below 1 eV with the next generation of devices. We give an introduction to the physics of MMCs and summarize the presently used readout schemes as well as the typically observed noise contributions and their impact on the energy resolution. We discuss general design considerations, the micro-fabrication of MMCs and the performance of micro-fabricated devices. In this field large progress has been achieved in the last years and the thermodynamic properties of most materials approach bulk values allowing for optimal and predictable performance.
- OSTI ID:
- 21325820
- Journal Information:
- AIP Conference Proceedings, Vol. 1185, Issue 1; Conference: LTD13: 13. international workshop on low temperature detectors, Stanford, CA (United States), 20-24 Jul 2009; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.3292407; (c) 2009 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0094-243X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ABSORPTION
CALORIMETERS
CALORIMETRY
CRYOGENICS
DESIGN
ENERGY RESOLUTION
EV RANGE
GAMMA SPECTROSCOPY
KEV RANGE
NOISE
PARAMAGNETISM
PERFORMANCE
RADIATION DETECTORS
READOUT SYSTEMS
SENSORS
SQUID DEVICES
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
X-RAY DETECTION