High-resolution spectroscopy with low-temperature X-ray detectors

Simon E. Labov, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Low-temperature X-ray detectors can provide high quantum efficiency with moderate to high spectral resolution in the UV and X-ray bands. When cooled to temperatures below 1 K, the energy of each X-ray absorbed in the detector can be measured with high precision. The superconducting detector group at LLNL is developing low-temperature X-ray detectors based on superconducting tunnel junctions. These detectors have a spectral resolution of 6 eV FWHM at 250 eV and 29 eV FWHM at 6 keV. Count rates as high as 23,000 cps have been achieved with only a small degradation in resolution. Measurements of detector performance between 50 eV and 8 keV will be presented, as will some preliminary X-ray fluorescence measurements made at SSRL.

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