Abstract: Present models of the superconducting-to-normal transition in transition-edge sensors (TESs) do not describe the current distribution within a biased TES. This distribution is complicated by normal-metal features that are integral to TES design. We present a model with one free parameter that describes the evolution of the current distribution with bias. To probe the current distribution experimentally, we fabricated TES devices with different current return geometries. Devices where the current return geometry mirrors current flow within the device have sharper transitions, thus allowing for a direct test of the current-flow model.Measurements from these devices show that current meanders through a TES low in the resistivetransition but flows across the normal-metal features by 40% of the normal-state resistance. Comparison of transition sharpness between device designs reveals that self-induced magnetic fields play an important role in determining the width of the superconducting transition.

Abstract: We present an overview of the state of the onboard receiving complex of the Millimetron space observatory in the development phase of its preliminary design. The basic parameters of the onboard equipment planned to create and required for astrophysical observations are considered. A review of coherent and incoherent detectors, which are central to each receiver of the observatory, is given. Their characteristics and limiting parameters feasible at the present level of technology are reported.

Abstract: The radical ion HCl+, a key intermediate in the chlorine chemistry of the interstellar gas, has been identified for the first time in the interstellar medium with the Herschel Space Observatory's Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared. The ground-state rotational transition of H35Cl+, 2Π3/2 J = 5/2-3/2, showing Λ-doubling and hyperfine structure, is detected in absorption toward the Galactic star-forming regions W31C (G10.6-0.4) and W49N. The complex interstellar absorption features are modeled by convolving in velocity space the opacity profiles of other molecular tracers toward the same sources with the fine and hyperfine structure of HCl+. This structure is derived from a combined analysis of optical data from the literature and new laboratory measurements of pure rotational transitions, reported in the accompanying Letter by Gupta et al. The models reproduce well the interstellar absorption, and the frequencies inferred from the astronomical observations are in exact agreement with those calculated using spectroscopic constants derived from the laboratory data. The detection of H37Cl+ toward W31C, with a column density consistent with the expected 35Cl/37Cl isotopic ratio, provides additional evidence for the identification. A comparison with the chemically related molecules HCl and H2Cl+ yields an abundance ratio of unity with both species (HCl+ : H2Cl+ : HCl ~ 1). These observations also yield the unexpected result that HCl+ accounts for 3%-5% of the gas-phase chlorine toward W49N and W31C, values several times larger than the maximum fraction (~1%) predicted by chemical models.