0000000001267407

AUTHOR

Kimmo Kinnunen

Studies of transition-edge sensor physics : thermal models and noise

This thesis focuses on studying the noise in transition-edge sensors (TES). More specifically, the aim is to find an explanation for the observed excess noise that is limiting their performance and has been troubling the TES field in recent years. Several theories have been put forth but a definitive answer is still missing. In the early stages of this thesis work a novel theory was presented for the noise in a special TES geometry. In our theory the excess noise is caused by correlated fluctuations of superconductivity at the phase boundary between normal and superconducting states. Data from more recent experiments does not give solid support for the theory and in this thesis the validity…

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Simultaneous Noise and Impedance Fitting to Transition-Edge Sensor Data using Differential Evolution

We discuss a robust method to simultaneously fit a complex model both to the complex impedance and the noise data for transition-edge sensors (TES). It is based on a differential evolution (DE) algorithm, providing accurate and repeatable results with only a small increase in computational cost compared to the standard least squares (LS) fitting method. Test fits are made using both DE and LS methods, and the results compared with previously determined best fits, with varying initial value deviations and limit ranges for the parameters. The robustness of DE is demonstrated with successful fits even when parameter limits up to a factor of 5 from the known values were used. It is shown that t…

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Table-top ultrafast X-ray microcalorimeter spectrometry for molecular structure

This work presents an x-ray absorption measurement by use of ionizing radiation generated by a femtosecond pulsed laser source. The spectrometer was a microcalorimetric array whose pixels are capable of accurately measuring energies of individual radiation quanta. An isotropic continuum x-ray spectrum in the few-keV range was generated from a laser plasma source with a water-jet target. X rays were transmitted through a ferrocene powder sample to the detector, whose pixels have average photon energy resolution E ¼ 3:14 eV full-width-at-half-maximum at 5.9 keV. The bond distance of ferrocene was retrieved from this first hard-x-ray absorption fine-structure spectrum collected with an energyd…

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Effectiveness of a Mobile Phone App for Adults That Uses Physical Activity as a Tool to Manage Cigarette Craving After Smoking Cessation: A Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

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