Engineering topics

Schilling, A

Publications and source records attributed to Schilling, A.

2 records

DOE OSTI2012

An ultra-fast superconducting Nb nanowire single-photon detector for soft x-rays

Although superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are well studied regarding the detection of infrared/optical photons and keV-molecules, no studies on continuous x-ray photon counting by thick-film detectors have been reported so far. We fabricated a 100 nm thick niobium x-ray SNSPD (an X-SNSPD) and studied its detection capability of photons with keV-energies in continuous mode. The detector is capable to detect photons even at reduced bias currents of 0.4%, which is in sharp contrast to optical thin-film SNSPDs. No dark counts were recorded in extended measurement periods. Strikingly, the signal amplitude distribution depends significantly on the photon energy spectrum.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

DOE OSTI2011

LC-circuit calorimetry

We present a new type of calorimeter in which we couple an unknown heat capacity with the aid of Peltier elements to an electrical circuit. The use of an electrical inductance and an amplifier in the circuit allows us to achieve autonomous oscillations, and the measurement of the corresponding resonance frequency makes it possible to accurately measure the heat capacity with an intrinsic statistical uncertainty that decreases as {approx}t{sub m}{sup -3/2} with measuring time t{sub m}, as opposed to a corresponding uncertainty {approx}t{sub m}{sup -1/2} in the conventional alternating current method to measure heat capacities. We have built a demonstration experiment to show the feasibility of the new technique, and we have tested it on a gadolinium sample at its transition to the ferromagnetic state.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗