$Q$ Spectroscopy With Superconducting Sensor Microcalorimeters

Koehler, K.; Bennett, Douglas A.; Bond, E. M.; Croce, Mark P.; Dry, D. E.; Horansky, Robert D.; Kotsubo, V.; Moody, W. A.; Rabin, Michael W.; Schmidt, Daniel R.; Ullom, Joel N.; Vale, Leila R.

doi:10.1109/tns.2012.2225639

Cited by 15 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Conventional devices have used a thin silicon nitride film to support the TES structure . This arrangement is problematic due to the fragility of the membrane and the likelihood of damage during attachment of the gold foil absorber to the TES.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, data collected from dried droplet 209 Po and 210 Po samples do not show the secondary peak, and polonium is known to autodeposit onto surfaces, leading to the sample being well-adhered to the gold foil rather than inside the residue. Even in an ideal case, some resolution degradation and low-energy tailing is expected from lattice damage effects . Attempts to anneal the absorber with heat and pressure, instead of mechanical kneading, were unsuccessful.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Conventional devices have used a thin silicon nitride film to support the TES structure. 14 This arrangement is problematic due to the fragility of the membrane and the likelihood of damage during attachment of the gold foil absorber to the TES. Permanent epoxy is often used to attach the absorber to the TES, making removal of the foil impossible after the measurement is complete.…”

Section: ■ Experimental Sectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even in an ideal case, some resolution degradation and low-energy tailing is expected from lattice damage effects. 14 Attempts to anneal the absorber with heat and pressure, instead of mechanical kneading, were unsuccessful.…”

Section: ■ Experimental Sectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A new approach described here overcomes many of the drawbacks of conventional analysis methods. We use a superconducting transition-edge-sensor (TES) with an attached gold foil to absorb the decay radiation. − Plutonium isotopes in solution are deposited onto the gold foil and the solvent is allowed to evaporate, then the foil is folded to completely encapsulate the radioactive material. In principle, all decay products are captured in the foil, such that all decays result in a measurement of the single Q -value of the decaying isotope, regardless of the exact decay path.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Measurement of the ²⁴⁰Pu/²³⁹Pu Mass Ratio Using a Transition-Edge-Sensor Microcalorimeter for Total Decay Energy Spectroscopy

et al. 2015

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We have developed a new category of sensor for measurement of the (240)Pu/(239)Pu mass ratio from aqueous solution samples with advantages over existing methods. Aqueous solution plutonium samples were evaporated and encapsulated inside of a gold foil absorber, and a superconducting transition-edge-sensor microcalorimeter detector was used to measure the total reaction energy (Q-value) of nuclear decays via heat generated when the energy is thermalized. Since all of the decay energy is contained in the absorber, we measure a single spectral peak for each isotope, resulting in a simple spectral analysis problem with minimal peak overlap. We found that mechanical kneading of the absorber dramatically improves spectral quality by reducing the size of radioactive inclusions within the absorber to scales below 50 nm such that decay products primarily interact with atoms of the host material. Due to the low noise performance of the microcalorimeter detector, energy resolution values of 1 keV fwhm (full width at half-maximum) at 5.5 MeV have been achieved, an order of magnitude improvement over α-spectroscopy with conventional silicon detectors. We measured the (240)Pu/(239)Pu mass ratio of two samples and confirmed the results by comparison to mass spectrometry values. These results have implications for future measurements of trace samples of nuclear material.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ■ Experimental Sectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: ■ Experimental Sectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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