Assessing the Aging Effect on Ti/Au Bilayers for Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) Detectors.

Transition-edge sensor (TES) microcalorimeters are advanced cryogenic detectors that use a superconducting film for particle or photon detection. We are establishing a new production line for TES detectors to serve as cryogenic anticoincidence (i.e.

Systematic effects induced by a flat isotropic dielectric slab.

The instrumental polarization induced by a flat isotropic dielectric slab in microwave frequencies is discussed. We find that, in spite of its isotropic nature, such a dielectric can produce spurious polarization either by transmitting incoming anisotropic diffuse radiation or emitting when it is thermally inhomogeneous. We present evaluations of instrumental polarization generated by materials usually adopted in radio astronomy, by using the Mueller matrix formalism.