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Title: Superconducting Tunnel Junctions for High-Precision EUV Spectroscopy

Journal Article · · Journal of Low Temperature Physics
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
  2. STAR Cryoelectronics, Santa Fe, NM (United States)
  3. Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

We have characterized the photon response of superconducting tunnel junctions in the extreme ultraviolet energy range below 100 eV with a pulsed 355 nm laser. The detectors are operated at rates up to 5000 counts/s, are very linear in energy and have an energy resolution between 0.9 and 2 eV. Here, we observe multiple peaks that correspond to an integer number of photons with a Poissonian probability distribution and that can be used for high-accuracy energy calibration. The uncertainty of the centroid depends on the detector resolution and the counting statistics and can be as low as 1 meV for well-separated peaks with > 105 counts. We discuss the precision of the peak centroid as a function of detector resolution and total number of counts and the accuracy of the energy calibration.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-07NA27344; SC0006214; SC0004359; 14-LW-073
OSTI ID:
1331444
Report Number(s):
LLNL-CONF-704389; PII: 1443
Journal Information:
Journal of Low Temperature Physics, Vol. 184, Issue 3-4; Conference: 16. Workshop on Low Temperature Detectors, Grenoble (France), 20 - 24 Jul 2015; ISSN 0022-2291
Publisher:
SpringerCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (6)

On the factors governing the energy resolution of Ta-based superconducting tunnel junctions journal December 1999
Superconducting tunnel junction detectors for extreme ultraviolet applications journal June 2003
Development of Ta-Based Superconducting Tunnel Junction X-Ray Detector Arrays journal June 2013
Narrow Line X-Ray Calibration Source for High Resolution Microcalorimeters journal December 2013
Wavelengths of spectral lines in mercury pencil lamps journal January 1996
Temperature dependence of the emission cross section of Nd:YVO_4 around 1064 nm and consequences on laser operation journal January 2011

Cited By (1)

Non-linearities in Superconducting Tunnel Junction Radiation Detectors and Their MCA Readout journal February 2020