Transition edge sensor
Encyclopedia
A transition edge sensor or TES is a type of cryogenic particle detector that exploits the strongly temperature-dependent resistance
of the superconducting phase transition.
material that is cooled below its superconducting critical temperature and electrically biased on the superconducting transition. In this state, the device has a finite electrical resistance
that is less than the resistance in the fully non-superconducting state. Energy coupled to the detector increases its temperature, pushing it further into the non-superconducting state and thereby increasing its electrical resistance. This increase in resistance can be used to detect very small changes in temperature, and hence in energy. TESs are commonly operated with low noise SQUID
readouts. The low input impedance of the SQUID provides negative electrothermal feedback
that can significantly speed up the device response and improve the energy resolution.
, the E and B Experiment
, the SCUBA-2 All Sky Survey
, the South Pole Telescope
, and the Spider polarimeter.
Electrical resistance
The electrical resistance of an electrical element is the opposition to the passage of an electric current through that element; the inverse quantity is electrical conductance, the ease at which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels with the mechanical...
of the superconducting phase transition.
Principle of operation
A TES consists of a small volume of superconductingSuperconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...
material that is cooled below its superconducting critical temperature and electrically biased on the superconducting transition. In this state, the device has a finite electrical resistance
Electrical resistance
The electrical resistance of an electrical element is the opposition to the passage of an electric current through that element; the inverse quantity is electrical conductance, the ease at which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels with the mechanical...
that is less than the resistance in the fully non-superconducting state. Energy coupled to the detector increases its temperature, pushing it further into the non-superconducting state and thereby increasing its electrical resistance. This increase in resistance can be used to detect very small changes in temperature, and hence in energy. TESs are commonly operated with low noise SQUID
SQUID
A SQUID is a very sensitive magnetometer used to measure extremely weak magnetic fields, based on superconducting loops containing Josephson junctions....
readouts. The low input impedance of the SQUID provides negative electrothermal feedback
Electrothermal feedback
Electrothermal feedback is a concept in electronics that describes the interaction of the electric current and the temperature in a device with a temperature-dependent electrical resistance. This interaction arises from Joule heating....
that can significantly speed up the device response and improve the energy resolution.
Applications
TES arrays are becoming increasingly common in physics and astronomy experiments such as the Atacama Cosmology TelescopeAtacama Cosmology Telescope
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope is a six-metre telescope on Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile, near the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory. It is designed to make high-resolution, microwave-wavelength surveys of the sky in order to study the cosmic microwave background radiation...
, the E and B Experiment
The E and B Experiment
The E and B Experiment will measure the cosmic microwave background radiation of a part of the sky during two sub-orbital balloon flights. It is an experiment to make large, high-fidelity images of the CMB polarization anisotropies...
, the SCUBA-2 All Sky Survey
SCUBA-2 All Sky Survey
The SCUBA-2 All-Sky Survey , is a major astronomical experiment using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope in Hawaii. A team of around 50 astronomers from the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Netherlands, and Japan aim to map a huge swathe of the sky to find rare galaxies and stars being...
, the South Pole Telescope
South Pole Telescope
The South Pole Telescope is a 10 metre diameter telescope located at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, Antarctica. It is a microwave/millimetre-wave telescope that observes in a frequency range between 70 and 300 GHz...
, and the Spider polarimeter.