Superconducting Transition-Edge Sensor Microcalorimeters for Ultra-High Resolution Alpha-Particle Spectrometry

被引：15

作者：

Croce, M. P. ^{[1
]}

Bacrania, M. K. ^{[1
]}

Bond, E. M. ^{[1
]}

Dry, D. E. ^{[1
]}

Klingensmith, A. L. ^{[1
]}

Moody, W. A. ^{[1
]}

LaMont, S. P. ^{[1
]}

Rabin, M. W. ^{[1
]}

Rim, J. H. ^{[1
]}

Beall, J. A. ^{[2
]}

Bennett, D. A. ^{[2
]}

Kotsubo, V. ^{[2
]}

Horansky, R. D. ^{[2
]}

Hilton, G. C. ^{[2
]}

Schmidt, D. ^{[2
]}

Ullom, J. N. ^{[2
]}

Cantor, R. ^{[3
]}

机构：

[1] Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA

[2] NIST, Boulder, CO USA

[3] Star Cryoelect, Santa Fe, NM USA

来源：

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON APPLIED SUPERCONDUCTIVITY | 2011年 / 21卷 / 03期

关键词：

Alpha particle spectroscopy; microcalorimeter; nuclear forensics; superconducting transition-edge sensor;

D O I：

10.1109/TASC.2010.2096790

中图分类号：

TM [电工技术]; TN [电子技术、通信技术];

学科分类号：

0808 ; 0809 ;

摘要：

Alpha-particle spectrometry is a powerful analytical tool for nuclear forensics and environmental monitoring. Superconducting transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters have been shown to yield unsurpassed energy resolution for alpha spectrometry. With nearly an order of magnitude better energy resolution (1.06 keV FWHM at 5.3 MeV) than the current state-of-the-art silicon detectors (8-10 keV at 5.3 MeV), it is possible to measure samples containing multiple radioisotopes that would require expensive and time-consuming radiochemical separation prior to measurement with a silicon detector. This paper presents recent results from the Los Alamos four-channel microcalorimeter alpha spectrometer. We have prepared a source from weapons-grade plutonium and demonstrated the ability of microcalorimeter alpha spectrometry to simultaneously resolve alpha energies from (239)Pu, (240)Pu, (238)Pu, and (241)Am. The low-energy performance of the spectrometer system has been improved to allow measurement of energies as low as 5 keV, which gives a dynamic range of 1000. We have demonstrated this capability by simultaneously measuring the alpha particles and low-energy x-rays and internal conversion electrons emitted by an electroplated (240)Pu source.

引用

页码：207 / 210

页数：4

共 3 条

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Croce, M. P. ;

Bacrania, M. K. ;

Hoover, A. S. ;

Rabin, M. W. ;

Hoteling, N. J. ;

LaMont, S. P. ;

Plionis, A. A. ;

Dry, D. E. ;

Ullom, J. N. ;

Bennett, D. A. ;

Horansky, R. D. ;

Kotsubo, V. ;

Cantor, R. .

LOW TEMPERATURE DETECTORS LTD 13, 2009, 1185 :741-+

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Horansky, R. D. ;

Ullom, J. N. ;

Beall, J. A. ;

Hilton, G. C. ;

Irwin, K. D. ;

Vale, L. ;

Dry, D. ;

Lamont, S. P. ;

Rudy, C. R. ;

Rabin, M. W. .

JOURNAL OF LOW TEMPERATURE PHYSICS, 2008, 151 (3-4) :1067-1073

[3] Superconducting calorimetric alpha particle sensors for nuclear nonproliferation applications [J].

Horansky, Robert D. ;

Ullom, Joel N. ;

Beall, James A. ;

Hilton, Gene C. ;

Irwin, Kent D. ;

Dry, Donald E. ;

Hastings, Elizabeth P. ;

Lamont, Stephen P. ;

Rudy, Clifford R. ;

Rabin, Michael W. .

APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 2008, 93 (12)

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