Analysis of cryogenic calorimeter pulse shapes using a diffusion model

Thermal pulses from cryogenic calorimeters are known to have shapes which are more complicated than simple models predict. The approach taken in this paper is to treat the propagation of heat in the device as diffusion in a continuous medium consisting of the absorber and thermal links. The model predictions will be discussed for microcalorimeters having tin absorbers, niobium-titanium thermal links, and neutron transmutation doped (NTD) germanium thermistors.