Quasiparticle trapping and the quasiparticle multiplier

Abstract

Superconductors and in particular superconducting tunnel junctions can be used to detect phonons, electromagnetic radiation, x rays, and nuclear particles by the mechanism of Cooper-pair breaking to produce excess quasiparticles and phonons. We show that the sensitivity can be increased by a factor of 100 or more by trapping the quasiparticles in another superconductor of lower gap in the region of the tunnel junction. Moreover, if the ratio of the gap energies is >3 a multiplication process can occur due to the interaction of the relaxation phonons. This leads to the concept of the quasiparticle multiplier, a device which could have wider applications than the Gray effect transistor or the quiteron.