Modeling the energy thermalization of x-ray photons in a microcalorimeter with superconducting absorber

Emanuele Perinati; Marco Barbera; Alfonso Collura; Salvatore Serio; Eric H. Silver; Jeffrey W. Beeman; Eugene E. Haller; Don A. Landis; Norman W. Madden

doi:10.1117/12.461559

11 March 2003 Modeling the energy thermalization of x-ray photons in a microcalorimeter with superconducting absorber

Emanuele Perinati, Marco Barbera, Alfonso Collura, Salvatore Serio, Eric H. Silver, Jeffrey W. Beeman, Eugene E. Haller, Don A. Landis, Norman W. Madden

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 4851, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Telescopes and Instruments for Astronomy; (2003) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461559
Event: Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation, 2002, Waikoloa, Hawai'i, United States

Abstract

We present a modeling of the response of a microcalorimeter to the absorption of X-ray photons, based on the main microscopical processes responsible for the energy thermalization. In particular, we have modeled a microcalorimeter with superconducting tin absorber (350 micron x 350 micron x 7 micron) and neutron transmutation doped (NTD) germanium thermistor (75 micron x 50 micron x 150 micron). Such a detector, operated at 60 mK, is expected to achieve a spectral resolution as good as 1 eV FWHM in the soft X-ray energy range, based on the known sources of thermal and electronic noise. Nevertheless, the best spectral resolution measured in laboratory experimental tests is of about 5 eV FWHM (at 5.89 keV). We have investigated how the microscopic processes of energy thermalization, involving both quasiparticles and phonons, and the position of absorption of the photons may affect the spectral resolution of the detector.

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Emanuele Perinati, Marco Barbera, Alfonso Collura, Salvatore Serio, Eric H. Silver, Jeffrey W. Beeman, Eugene E. Haller, Don A. Landis, and Norman W. Madden "Modeling the energy thermalization of x-ray photons in a microcalorimeter with superconducting absorber", Proc. SPIE 4851, X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Telescopes and Instruments for Astronomy, (11 March 2003); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.461559

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