Multiple-tunneling noise in superconducting tunnel junctions from partial current integration

Superconducting tunnel junctions can be used as high-resolution particle or photon energy spectrometers. A photon absorbed in a superconductor breaks Cooper pairs into quasiparticles. These quasiparticles tunnel through the junction barrier and are detected as a pulse of excess current. Many junction designs allow the quasiparticles to tunnel more than once, an exponentially mixed Poisson process. However, multiple tunneling increases the fluctuation in the measured charge. We calculate the significance of these fluctuations algebraically as a function of time during the current pulse. We also calculate the finite integration window that minimizes the contribution of this noise. In addition, we calculate the effects of a low-pass amplifier and a Gaussian-shaping amplifier on the tunneling noise. With certain filtering time constants, the tunneling noise can be reduced while still providing some gain. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics.