Measurement of quasiparticle transport in aluminum films using tungsten transition-edge sensors

J. J. Yen, B. Shank, B. A. Young, B. Cabrera, P. L. Brink, M. Cherry, J. M. Kreikebaum, R. Moffatt, P. Redl, A. Tomada, E. C. Tortorici
2014 Applied Physics Letters  
We report new experimental studies to understand the physics of phonon sensors which utilize quasiparticle diffusion in thin aluminum films into tungsten transition-edge-sensors (TESs) operated at 35 mK. We show that basic TES physics and a simple physical model of the overlap region between the W and Al films in our devices enables us to accurately reproduce the experimentally observed pulse shapes from x-rays absorbed in the Al films. We further estimate quasiparticle loss in Al films using a simple diffusion equation approach.
doi:10.1063/1.4899130 fatcat:kbkjaoy4t5cuzmegrjb46ztalm