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Dan Becker (Assoc)

Dr. Daniel Becker is a Research Associate at the University of Colorado (CU), as well as a member of NIST’s Quantum Sensors Group (QSG). He has worked in the fields of low temperature sensors, electronics and cryogenic systems since 2006, and currently leads efforts in the QSG to develop and deploy gamma-ray spectrometers using cryogenic microcalorimeters, including creation of automated data analysis pipelines. He was also a member of the QSG team that developed the microwave SQUID multiplexer, a new microwave-frequency multiplexed readout system for TES detectors. As a graduate student working in the QSG, he built a video-rate passive imaging system operating at 350 GHz using cryogenic detectors, and designed microwave components for cryogenic detectors that have been deployed in multiple Cosmic Microwave Background observatories. Prior to his scientific career, Dr. Becker worked for 12 years as a computer programmer and consultant.

Publications

Effects of Stray Magnetic Field on Transition-edge Sensors in Gamma-ray Microcalorimeters

Author(s)
Mark Keller, Abigail Wessels, Dan Becker, Douglas Bennett, Matthew Carpenter, Mark Croce, Jozsef Imrek, Johnathon Gard, John Mates, Kelsey Morgan, Nathan Ortiz, Dan Schmidt, Katherine Schreiber, Daniel Swetz, Joel Ullom
Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) used in x-ray and γ-ray microcalorimeters suffer degraded performance if cooled in a magnetic field B sufficient

A tabletop x-ray tomography instrument for nanometer-scale imaging: demonstration of the 1,000-element transition-edge sensor subarray

Author(s)
Paul Szypryt, Nathan J. Nakamura, Dan Becker, Douglas Bennett, Amber L. Dagel, W.Bertrand (Randy) Doriese, Joseph Fowler, Johnathon Gard, J. Zachariah Harris, Gene C. Hilton, Jozsef Imrek, Edward S. Jimenez, Kurt W. Larson, Zachary H. Levine, John Mates, Daniel McArthur, Luis Miaja Avila, Kelsey Morgan, Galen O'Neil, Nathan Ortiz, Christine G. Pappas, Dan Schmidt, Kyle R. Thompson, Joel Ullom, Leila R. Vale, Michael Vissers, Christopher Walker, Joel Weber, Abigail Wessels, Jason W. Wheeler, Daniel Swetz
We report on the 1,000-element transition-edge sensor (TES) x-ray spectrometer implementation of the TOMographic Circuit Analysis Tool (TOMCAT). TOMCAT combines

Toward a New Primary Standardization of Radionuclide Massic Activity Using Microcalorimetry and Quantitative Milligram-Scale Samples

Author(s)
Ryan P. Fitzgerald, Bradley Alpert, Dan Becker, Denis E. Bergeron, Richard Essex, Kelsey Morgan, Svetlana Nour, Galen O'Neil, Dan Schmidt, Gordon A. Shaw, Daniel Swetz, R. Michael Verkouteren, Daikang Yan
We present a new paradigm for the primary standardization of radionuclide activity per mass of solution (Bq/g). Two key enabling capabilities are 4π decay

A Model for Excess Johnson Noise in Superconducting Transition-edge Sensors

Author(s)
Abigail Wessels, Kelsey Morgan, Dan Becker, Johnathon Gard, Gene C. Hilton, John Mates, Carl D. Reintsema, Dan Schmidt, Daniel Swetz, Joel Ullom, Leila R. Vale, Douglas Bennett
Transition-Edge Sensors (TESs) are two-dimensional superconducting films used to detect energy or power. These detectors are voltage biased in the

Improved plutonium and americium photon branching ratios from microcalorimeter gamma spectroscopy

Author(s)
M. D. Yoho, K. E. Koehler, Dan Becker, Douglas Bennett, M. H. Carpenter, M. P. Croce, J. D. Gard, John Mates, D. J. Mercer, Nathan Ortiz, Dan Schmidt, C. M. Smith, Daniel Swetz, A. D. Tollefson, Joel Ullom, Leila R. Vale, Abigail Wessels, D. T. Vo
Photon branching ratios are critical input data for activities such as nuclear materials protection and accounting because they allow material compositions to
Created May 11, 2019, Updated October 11, 2023