Optimal Energy Measurement in Nonlinear Systems - An Application of Differential Geometry

Published

July 1, 2014

Author(s)

Dale J. Fixsen, Harvey Moseley, Thomas Gerrits, Adriana Lita, Sae Woo Nam

Abstract

Design of TES microcalorimeters requires a tradeoff between resolution and dynamic range. Often, experimenters will require linearity for the highest energy signals, which requires additional heat capacity be added to the detector. This results in a reduction of low energy resolution in the detector. We derive and demonstrate an algorithm that allows operation far into the nonlinear regime with little loss in spectral resolution. We use a least squares optimal filter that varies with photon energy to accommodate the nonlinearity of the detector and the non-stationarity of the noise. The fitting process we use can be seen as an application of differential geometry. This recognition provides a set of well-developed tools to extend our work to more complex situations. The proper calibration of a nonlinear microcalorimeter requires a source with densely spaced narrow lines. A pulsed laser multi-photon source is used here, and is seen to be a powerful tool for allowing us to develop practical systems with significant detector nonlinearity. The combination of our analysis techniques and the multi-photon laser source create a powerful tool for increasing the performance of future TES microcalorimeters.

Citation

Journal of Low Temperature Physics

Volume

176

Issue

1-2

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-014-1149-x

Local Download

Keywords

transition edge sensor, single photon counting, optimal filter, non-stationary noise

Citation

Fixsen, D. , Moseley, H. , Gerrits, T. , Lita, A. and Nam, S. (2014), Optimal Energy Measurement in Nonlinear Systems - An Application of Differential Geometry, Journal of Low Temperature Physics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-014-1149-x, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=915678 (Accessed October 10, 2025)