Experimental and theoretical response of distributed read-out imaging devices with imperfect charge confinement

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Position dependent spatial and spectral resolution measurement of distributed readout superconducting imaging detectors

Contains fulltext : 72071.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)10 p

Efficiency of quasiparticle creation in proximized superconducting photon detectors

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Imaging spectroscopy with Ta/Al DROIDs: Performance for different Al trapping layer thicknesses

Contains fulltext : 35795.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Electronic Article Available from Elsevier Science

Superconducting tunnel junction detectors for soft x-ray astrophysics

Item does not contain fulltextThe requirement on energy resolution for detectors in future X-ray satelite missions such as XEUS (X-ray Evolving Universe Spectroscopy mission) is 80%. In addition, the requirements for field of view and angular resolution demand a detector array of typically 150x150 micron sized pixels in a 30x30 pixel format. DROIDs (Distributed Read Out Imaging Devices), consisting of a superconducting absorber strip with superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs) as read-out devices on either end, can fulfill these requirements. The amplitudes of the two signals from the STJs provide information on the absorption position and the energy of the incoming photon in the absorber. In this paper we present the development status of Ta/Al 1-D DROIDs, as well as the the short term development program that should result in a full size XEUS array.High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy I

Imaging spectroscopy with Ta/Al DROIDs: Performance for different absorber lengths

Contains fulltext : 35796.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Electronic Article Available from Elsevier Science

Accurate time-resolved optical photospectroscopy with superconducting tunnel junction arrays

Item does not contain fulltextSuperconducting Tunnel Junctions (STJs) have been extensively investigated as photon detectors covering the range from near-infrared to X-ray energies. A 10�2 array of Tantalum/Aluminium junctions has been integrated into the S-Cam3 camera for ground based astronomy. With this camera, the European Space Agency has performed multiple astronomical observations of optical sources using the William Herschel 4.2m telescope at La Palma and the Agency's 1-m Optical Ground Station telescope at Tenerife. Compared to its predecessor, this new instrument features a 10"�2" field-of-view, an optimized IR rejection reducing baseline noise and increasing optical light throughput and ultra-stable operations. In this paper, we review the instrument's architecture and describe the system's performance and in particular the energy resolution and count-rate capabilities of the detector arrays. Finally, we shall present first astronomical images taken during the Optical Ground Station's 2005 and 2006 campaigns which demonstrate the system's timing, photometric and spectroscopic capabilities

S-Cam 3: Optical astronomy with a STJ-based imaging spectrophotometer

Contains fulltext : 35413.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access)Electronic Article Available from Elsevier Science

Imaging spectroscopy with Ta/Al DROIDs: performance for different geometries

Item does not contain fulltextIn this paper we present the preliminary results from experiments with Distributed Read Out Imaging Devices (DROIDs) in the optical and in the X-ray regime. For the optical results DROIDs of different lengths ranging from 200 to 700 ?m have been used with an STJ lay-up of Ta/Al/AlOx/Al/Ta with thicknesses of 100/30/1/30/100 nm. With this data the behavior with different absorber length has been investigated to determine an optimal absorber size for a DROID array to be used in the optical wavelength regime. The optimum absorber size has been found to be 30x400 um. The X-ray data has been obtained with a similar device structure but with 60 nm aluminium trapping layers to increase the trapping of quasiparticles in the STJs. In this paper we only present the data obtained with the standard DROID size of 400?m. With this device an extensive set of measurements have been performed which involves; a scan in photon energy ranging from 50eV to 1900 eV, a scan in temperature and a scan in bias voltage. We report here only results from the preliminary analysis of the data obtained with readout electronics comprising the normal preamplifier and subsequent shaping stage. For the final analyzes the pulses resulting from the STJs have been digitized and are ready to be analyzed. The pulses have been used to estimate the decay time of the STJs which appear to be very short. This is probably caused by the poor trapping of quasiparticles. Detailed results on this process will be presented however at a later date