Suppression of excess noise in transition-edge sensors using magnetic field and geometry

Published

December 17, 2003

Author(s)

Joel N. Ullom, William B. Doriese, Gene C. Hilton, James A. Beall, Steven Deiker, Kent D. Irwin, Carl D. Reintsema, Leila R. Vale, Yizi Xu

Abstract

We report recent progress at NIST on Mo/Cu Transition-Edge Sensors (TESs). While the signal- band noise of our sensors agrees with theory, we observe excess high-frequency noise. We describe this noise and demonstrate that it can be heavily suppressed by a magnetic field perpendicular to the plane of the sensor. Both the excess noise and α = (T/ R)(dR/dT) depend strongly on field so our results show that accurate comparisons between devices are only possible when the field is well known or constant. We also present results showing the noise performance of TES designs incorporating parallel and perpendicular normal metal bars, an array of normal metal islands, and in the shape of a wedge. We demonstrate significant reduction of high-frequency noise with the perpendicular bar devices at the cost of reduced α. Both the bars and the magnetic field are useful noise reduction techniques for bolometers.

Citation

Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A-Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment

Volume

520

Issue

1-3

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

excess noise, transition-edge sensor, microcalorimeter

Citation

Ullom, J. , Doriese, W. , Hilton, G. , Beall, J. , Deiker, S. , Irwin, K. , Reintsema, C. , Vale, L. and Xu, Y. (2003), Suppression of excess noise in transition-edge sensors using magnetic field and geometry, Nuclear Instruments & Methods in Physics Research Section A-Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=31423 (Accessed October 10, 2025)