A micrometer scale calorimeter realized by using Schottky junctions as a thermometer is presented. Combined with a hybrid experimental method, it enables simultaneous time-resolved measurements of variations in both the energy and the heat capacity of subnanolitre samples.
We describe optical characterisation of a Strained Silicon Cold Electron Bolometer (CEB), operating on a $350~mathrm{mK}$ stage, designed for absorption of millimetre-wave radiation. The silicon Cold Electron Bolometer utilises Schottky contacts betw
een a superconductor and an n++ doped silicon island to detect changes in the temperature of the charge carriers in the silicon, due to variations in absorbed radiation. By using strained silicon as the absorber, we decrease the electron-phonon coupling in the device and increase the responsivity to incoming power. The strained silicon absorber is coupled to a planar aluminium twin-slot antenna designed to couple to $160~mathrm{GHz}$ and that serves as the superconducting contacts. From the measured optical responsivity and spectral response, we calculate a maximum optical efficiency of $50~%$ for radiation coupled into the device by the planar antenna and an overall noise equivalent power (NEP), referred to absorbed optical power, of $1.1 times 10^{-16}~mathrm{mbox{W Hz}^{-1/2}}$ when the detector is observing a $300~mathrm{K}$ source through a $4~mathrm{K}$ throughput limiting aperture. Even though this optical system is not optimised we measure a system noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of $6~mathrm{mbox{mK Hz}^{-1/2}}$. We measure the noise of the device using a cross-correlation of time stream data measured simultaneously with two junction field-effect transistor (JFET) amplifiers, with a base correlated noise level of $300~mathrm{mbox{pV Hz}^{-1/2}}$ and find that the total noise is consistent with a combination of photon noise, current shot noise and electron-phonon thermal noise.
A novel geometry for a sampling calorimeter employing inorganic scintillators as an active medium is presented. To overcome the mechanical challenges of construction, an innovative light collection geometry has been pioneered, that minimises the comp
lexity of construction. First test results are presented, demonstrating a successful signal extraction. The geometry consists of a sampling calorimeter with passive absorber layers interleaved with layers of an active medium made of inorganic scintillating crystals. Wavelength-shifting (WLS) fibres run along the four long, chamfered edges of the stack, transporting the light to photodetectors at the rear. To maximise the amount of scintillation light reaching the WLS fibres, the scintillator chamfers are depolished. It is shown herein that this concept is working for cerium fluoride (CeF$_3$) as a scintillator. Coupled to it, several different types of materials have been tested as WLS medium. In particular, materials that might be sufficiently resistant to the High-Luminosity Large Hadron Collider radiation environment, such as cerium-doped Lutetium-Yttrium Orthosilicate (LYSO) and cerium-doped quartz, are compared to conventional plastic WLS fibres. Finally, an outlook is presented on the possible optimisation of the different components, and the construction and commissioning of a full calorimeter cell prototype is presented.
A modified AC method based on micro-fabricated heater and resistive thermometers has been applied to measure the thermopower of microscale samples. A sinusoidal current with frequency {omega} is passed to the heater to generate an oscillatory tempera
ture difference across the sample at a frequency 2{omega}, which simultaneously induces an AC thermoelectric voltage, also at the frequency 2{omega}. A key step of the method is to extract amplitude and phase of the oscillatory temperature difference by probing the AC temperature variation at each individual thermometer. The sign of the thermopower is determined by examining the phase difference between the oscillatory temperature difference and the AC thermoelectric voltage. The technique has been compared with the popular DC method by testing both n-type and p-type thin film samples. Both methods yielded consistent results, which verified the reliability of the newly proposed AC method.
The recent progress in R&D of the Micromegas detectors for hadronic calorimetry including new engineering-technical solutions, electronics development, and accompanying simulation studies with emphasis on the comparison of the physics performance of
the analog and digital readout is described. The developed prototypes are with 2 bit digital readout to exploit the Micromegas proportional mode and thus improve the calorimeter linearity. In addition, measurements of detection efficiency, hit multiplicity, and energy shower profiles obtained during the exposure of small size prototypes to radioactive source quanta, cosmic particles and accelerator beams are reported. Eventually, the status of a large scale chamber (1{times}1 m2) are also presented with prospective towards the construction of a 1 m3 digital calorimeter consisting of 40 such chambers.
Precise calorimetric reconstruction of 5-50 MeV electrons in liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) will enable the study of astrophysical neutrinos in DUNE and could enhance the physics reach of oscillation analyses. Liquid argon scintillat
ion light has the potential to improve energy reconstruction for low-energy electrons over charge-based measurements alone. Here we demonstrate light-augmented calorimetry for low-energy electrons in a single-phase LArTPC using a sample of Michel electrons from decays of stopping cosmic muons in the LArIAT experiment at Fermilab. Michel electron energy spectra are reconstructed using both a traditional charge-based approach as well as a more holistic approach that incorporates both charge and light. A maximum-likelihood fitter, using LArIATs well-tuned simulation, is developed for combining these quantities to achieve optimal energy resolution. A sample of isolated electrons is simulated to better determine the energy resolution expected for astrophysical electron-neutrino charged-current interaction final states. In LArIAT, which has very low wire noise and an average light yield of 18 pe/MeV, an energy resolution of $sigma/E simeq 9.3%/sqrt{E} oplus 1.3%$ is achieved. Samples are then generated with varying wire noise levels and light yields to gauge the impact of light-augmented calorimetry in larger LArTPCs. At a charge-readout signal-to-noise of S/N $simeq$ 30, for example, the energy resolution for electrons below 40 MeV is improved by $approx$ 10%, $approx$ 20%, and $approx$ 40% over charge-only calorimetry for average light yields of 10 pe/MeV, 20 pe/MeV, and 100 pe/MeV, respectively.