Abstract
The response of cryogenic high-resolution detectors to a short-pulse laser consists of a Poisson-distributed set of equidistant peaks that correspond to integer numbers of absorbed photons. Since the laser has a negligible intrinsic line width, the peaks can be used for detailed characterization of both the detector and the data acquisition system. We have characterized our superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) photon detectors in the UV and soft X-ray range with a pulsed 355-nm laser at rates up to 5000 counts/s. The observed peaks are described by a Gaussian to very high accuracy, with a width between ~ 1 and ~ 3 eV FWHM depending on the detector area and the absorbed energy. For high statistics, centroids can be determined with a precision of order 1 meV over an energy range of several 100 eV. This allows identifying and correcting for non-linearities in the digitizer that can otherwise limit the calibration accuracy.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory through LDRD project 19-FS-027. It 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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Friedrich, S., Ponce, F., Hall, J.A. et al. Non-linearities in Superconducting Tunnel Junction Radiation Detectors and Their MCA Readout. J Low Temp Phys 200, 200–205 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-020-02360-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-020-02360-2