Journal of Low Temperature Physics

, Volume 167, Issue 5–6, pp 741–747 | Cite as

New Developments in Superconducting Tunnel Junction X-Ray Spectrometers for Synchrotron Science

  • Stephan Friedrich
  • Matthew H. Carpenter
  • Owen B. Drury
  • William K. Warburton
  • Jackson Harris
  • John Hall
  • Robin Cantor
Article

Abstract

We are developing Ta-based superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) X-ray detectors for high-resolution soft X-ray spectroscopy at the synchrotron. For scaling to large detector arrays, we have also built a compact, low-cost, remote-controllable preamplifier with <3 eV electronic noise. Current Ta-STJs attain an energy resolution between 6.5 and 9 eV FWHM for energies up to ∼2 keV, and can be operated at rates up to ∼5,000 counts/s as long as the signals decay with a single exponential time constant.

Keywords

Superconducting tunnel junctions STJ X-ray detectors Synchrotron science 

Notes

Acknowledgements

This paper is based upon work partially supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under Awards Number DE-SC0006214 and DE-SC0002256. Part of this work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC (outside the USA) 2012

Authors and Affiliations

  • Stephan Friedrich
    • 1
  • Matthew H. Carpenter
    • 1
    • 2
  • Owen B. Drury
    • 1
  • William K. Warburton
    • 3
  • Jackson Harris
    • 3
  • John Hall
    • 4
  • Robin Cantor
    • 4
  1. 1.Lawrence Livermore Natl. LabLivermoreUSA
  2. 2.University of CaliforniaDavisUSA
  3. 3.XIA LLCHaywardUSA
  4. 4.STAR CryoelectronicsSanta FeUSA

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