Properties of a colloidal Superheated Superconducting Granule particle detector

Superheated Superconducting Granule detectors, consisting of tiny superconducting granules acting as microcalorimeters and being randomly distributed in space, deserve a careful investigation of their intrinsic properties, i.e. characteristic superconductivity effects, the target efficiency and the feasibility as an energy-resolving system. Experimental results and simulations, mainly focusing on the superheating curve and connected problems arising from magnetostatic interactions between the granules, are discussed in order to establish a profound frame for the development of or improvements on such detectors.