M. Kurakado et al., FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS OF SERIES-CONNECTED SUPERCONDUCTING TUNNEL JUNCTION TO RADIATION DETECTION, Review of scientific instruments, 68(10), 1997, pp. 3685-3696
One of the promising radiation detection devices for various practical
applications is the series-connected superconducting tunnel junction
(STJ) detector. In this article, interesting topics of the detectors a
re described since our previous work: e.g., more than two order higher
detection efficiency compared with single STJ detectors, high count r
ate detection, and position resolution. Detectors were cooled to 0.35-
0.4 K by means of a convenient He-3 cryostat. The 5.9 and 6.5 keV x ra
ys from Fe-55 are separated by a detector specially designed for x-ray
detection. The possible count rate of the series-junction detector es
timated from the shaping-time constant applied in the measurements is
high, e.g., over 10(4) counts per second. A series-junction detector e
quipped with a position sensing mechanism has shown a position resolut
ion of about 35 mu m in a sensing area with a radius of 1.1 mm. The po
sition resolution of series junctions improves the energy resolution.
A new type series-connected STJ detector is also proposed, i.e., the d
ispersed multitrap series-junction detector, for further improvement o
f detection efficiency and energy resolution. (C) 1997 American Instit
ute of Physics.