Superconducting thin-film detector of nuclear particles
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Authors
Crittenden, E.C. Jr.
Spiel, D.E.
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
1971-01-01
Date
Publisher
American Institute of Physics
Language
en_US
Abstract
Superconducting films of tin and indium on supporting substrates have functioned successfully as detectors of individual nuclear particles. The films are sufficiently thin and narrow that individual a-particle impacts initiate superconducting to normal transitions which spread, in the presence of a transport current, to span a full film cross section. The transitions are ob- served by means of the ir drop produced by a transport current. For low current densities self-terminating voltage pulses of a few nsec duration are observed. At higher current densi- ties the boundaries of a normal region initiated by an O! particle propagate by Joule heating to the ends of the film. The range of the 5. 3-MeV a particles utilized for these experiments greatly exceeds the O. 1 J.l. m thickness of the films and the resulting deposition of energy in the substrate affects the response of any film which is in direct contact with its substrate. The introduction of a thin thermally insulating layer of varnish between the film and its sub- strate, which in these experiments was either glass or crystalline quartz, increases the ther- mal decay constant to the extent that the film is thermally isolated from its substrate for a period comparable to that of pulse formation. The variation of count rate with film current has been studied and is shown to be consistent with the variation of critical current density along the length of the film. This model, coupled with classical heat diffusion within the film, accounts for the observed behavior of the thermally isolated films.
Type
Article
Description
The article of record as published may be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1660704
Series/Report No
Department
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
USDOE
Funder
Format
Citation
Journal Name: J. Appl. Phys. 42: No. 8, 3182-8(Jul 1971).; Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-71
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.