Computer simulation of heat distribution processes in W/(La,Ce)B6/W sensor of thermoelectric detector

Abstract

The results are presented of the computer simulation of heat distribution in the W/(La,Ce)B₆/W multi-layer sensor of the thermoelectric detector after the absorption of single photons with the energies 1–100 eV. The influence of the choice of computer simulation parameters on the revealing of the peculiarities of heat transmission processes arising in the sensor of detector depending on the photon energy, the sensor geometry, the absorption area of the absorber surface and the depth of photon thermalization is investigated in details. The energy resolution and the count rate of sensor are evaluated. It is shown that the multi-layer sensor with the thermoelectric (La,Ce)B₆ is capable to register a single photon in a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum at 0.5 K; it has an advantages as compared with the sensor based on the CeB₆ with the operating temperature 9 K, and has perspectives to be used in the science and technology.