Related papers: Next Generation Ta-STJ Sensor Arrays for BSM Physi…
The Beryllium Electron capture in Superconducting Tunnel junctions (BeEST) experiment searches for evidence of heavy neutrino mass eigenstates in the nuclear electron capture decay of $^7$Be by precisely measuring the recoil energy of the…
The BeEST experiment is searching for sub-MeV sterile neutrinos by measuring nuclear recoil energies from the decay of $^7$Be implanted into superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) sensors. The recoil spectra are affected by interactions…
Precision measurements of nuclear $\beta$ decay are among the most sensitive methods to probe beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics in the neutrino sector. In particular, momentum conservation between the emitted decay products in the final…
Superconducting Tunnel Junctions (STJs) are used as high-resolution quantum sensors to search for evidence of sterile neutrinos in the electron capture decay of $^7$Be. We are developing spatially-resolved Monte-Carlo simulations of the…
The BeEST experiment is a precision laboratory search for physics beyond the standard model that measures the electron capture decay of $^7$Be implanted into superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) detectors. For Phase-III of the experiment,…
Superconducting Tunnel Junctions (STJ's) are currently being developed as photon detectors for a wide range of applications. Interest comes from their ability to cumulate photon counting with chromaticity (i.e. energy resolution) from the…
The BeEST experiment is measuring the ${}^{7}$Li recoil spectrum from the decay of ${}^{7}$Be implanted into Ta-based sensors to provide the most stringent limits on the existence of sterile neutrinos in the sub-MeV mass range. Its…
Superconducting sensors doped with rare isotopes have recently demonstrated powerful sensing performance for sub-keV radiation from nuclear decay. Here, we report the first high-resolution recoil spectroscopy of a single, selected nuclear…
This thesis describes the development of low-energy gap superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs) for use as photon detectors, with as a main goal the improvement of the energy resolution in both the optical and the x-ray energy domain. A new…
The Compressed Baryonic Matter (CBM) experiment at the future Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) is a heavy-ion experiment designed to study nuclear matter at the highest baryonic density. For high-statistics measurements of…
We report a high-statistics measurement of the $L/K$ orbital electron capture (EC) ratio in $^7$Be embedded in cryogenic Ta. The thin Ta film formed part of a high-resolution superconducting tunnel junction (STJ) radiation detector that was…
Sterile neutrinos are natural extensions to the standard model of particle physics and provide a possible portal to the dark sector. We report a new search for the existence of sub-MeV sterile neutrinos using the decay-momentum…
Ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) leverage polarization-dependent tunneling through ultrathin barriers to enable two-terminal, non-volatile memory and logic. Although conceptually appealing, the practical implementation of conventional…
Ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs) have attracted increasing research interest as a promising candidate for non-volatile memories. Recently, significant enhancements of tunneling electroresistance (TER) have been realized through…
We present a full theoretical and experimental study of the dynamics and energy distribution of non-equilibrium quasiparticles in superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs). STJs are often used for single-photon spectrometers, where the…
Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers are a well-established technology with a strong track record in experimental cosmology, making them ideal for current and future radio astronomy instruments. The Tomographic Ionized-carbon Mapping…
We present the first results using the STAR detector from the Beam Energy Scan (BES) program at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). In this program, Au ion collisions at center of mass energies (\sqrt{s_{NN}}) of 7.7, 11.5 and 39…
Electric transport and scanning tunneling spectrum (STS) have been investigated on polycrystalline samples of the new superconductor Bi4O4S3. A weak insulating behavior in the resistive curve has been induced in the normal state when the…
Recent advances in increasing the spectroscopic energy resolution in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) have been achieved by integrating electron spin resonance (ESR) with STM. Here, we demonstrate the design and performance of a…
We propose energy band engineering to enhance tunneling electroresistance (TER) in ferroelectric tunnel junctions (FTJs). We predict that an ultrathin dielectric layer with a smaller band gap, embedded into a ferroelectric barrier layer,…