EXPERIMENTAL QUASI-PARTICLE DYNAMICS IN A SUPERCONDUCTING, IMAGING X-RAY SPECTROMETER

We present an experimental study of the time scales for various quasip article processes in a superconducting single photon spectrometer. Pro cesses studied include quasiparticle recombination, diffusion, trappin g, tunneling, and energy redistribution. Experiments were performed wi th a double junction, imaging x-ray detector whose charge output provi des a measure of the photon energy. Time scales are extracted with a s imple model and the values of several parameters, including the diffus ion constant and recombination time, are found to differ from theoreti cal predictions. These results provide guidelines for performance anal ysis, device scaling, and future designs. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.