Abstract: An attachment for a utility bucket having a rim includes a rim engagement portion for engaging the rim of the utility bucket in a releasably locked engagement and a ramped portion, which extends from the rim engagement portion. The ramped portion can include an inclined portion which can have a back edge, a dust pan blade, and sidewalls that extend from a free edge of the dust pan blade to the engagement portion. The sidewalls can be both angled and curved. The dust pan blade can include a plurality of blade ribs formed on a bottom surface thereof.

Abstract: Multi-layer transition-edge sensors (TES) having improved performance, a method for preparing them and methods of using them. Specifically, the improvement lies in providing normal metal strips along the edges of the superconducting and normal metal layers parallel to the current flow in the TES during operation. These strips (referred to as “banks”) provide for both improved detector performance and improved detector robustness against corrosion. This improvement is an important advance particularly for TES-based microcalorimeter detectors. The improved TESs also have many other applications based on the very precise thermometer function achieved by the TES.

Abstract: A system and method for using one or more localized weak-link structures, and damping on the electrical bias circuit, to improve the performance of superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES). The weak links generally consist of an area or areas having a reduction in cross-sectional geometry in an otherwise uniform bilayer TES applied to a substrate. The weak links control the dissipation of power in the sensor, making it quieter and making its electrical response smoother and less hysteretic. The TES response is also made smoother by implementing a damping circuit on the electrical output of the TES.