Magnetic Microcalorimeter Gamma Detectors for High-Precision Non-Destructive Analysis, FY14 Extended Annual Report

Abstract

Cryogenic gamma (γ) detectors with operating temperatures of ~0.1 K or below offer 10× better energy resolution than conventional high-purity germanium detectors that are currently used for non-destructive analysis (NDA) of nuclear materials. This can greatly increase the accuracy of NDA, especially at low-energies where gamma rays often have similar energies and cannot be resolved by Ge detectors. We are developing cryogenic γ–detectors based on metallic magnetic calorimeters (MMCs), which have the potential of higher resolution, faster count rates and better linearity than other cryogenic detector technologies. High linearity is essential to add spectra from different pixels in detector arrays that are needed for high sensitivity. Here we discuss the fabrication of a new generation of MMC γ–detectors in FY2014, and the resulting improvements in energy resolution and linearity of the new design. As an example of the type of NDA that cryogenic detectors enable, we demonstrate the direct detection of Pu-242 emissions with our MMC γ–detectors in the presence of Pu-240, and show that a quantitative NDA analysis agrees with the mass spectrometry