This award supports George Seidel and junior members of his research group at Brown University to collaborate in materials research with Professor Siegfried Hunklinger and his group from the Institute of Applied Physics of the University of Heidelberg. The objective of their research is to develop cryogenic particle detectors. Both groups are actively studying low temperature calorimetric detection of particles using the magnetization of localized spins in metals for the sensing element. They will coordinate their efforts to determine which materials will make the best magnetic sensors and under what conditions. The special microstructure fabrication facility at the University of Heidelberg will be used to create the integrated systems. Brown University is better equipped to investigate particle interactions in solids as they apply to the performance of the calorimetric particle detectors. There has been a rapid growth of interest over the past decade in the development of particle detectors that operate at low temperatures, because such conditions offer the potential for very large increases in sensitivity and resolution. Such detectors have a variety of applications in astronomy and physics. These collaborating investigators have calculated that the performance of detectors based on the technology of magnetic bolometry is superior to existing devices, but little work has been done experimentally to demonstrate this potential. Because of the broad range of materials to be investigated, and of the complexity of facilities required for the fabrication and testing of samples, the proposed collaboration offers substantial benefits of efficiency and cost reduction.
