dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaDistributed readout detectors using superconducting tunnel junctions
| Authors | Iwan Jerjen, Eugenie Kirk, Elmar Schmid, Alex Zehnder |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0507010 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0507010 |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.nima.2005.12.084 |
| Journal | Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 559, 497 (2006) |
Abstract
Superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs) are able to measure the energy of single photons in the range from near infrared to X-rays. They provide simultaneous information of the impact time and wavelength of an absorbed photon. The main difficulty of these detectors compared with conventional imaging detectors lies in their limited pixel number. Each STJ has to be connected independently and therefore the wiring becomes technologically more demanding as the number of STJs increases. One approach to solving this problem is to use a single large absorber and to distribute STJs for position sensitive signal readout. This configuration is able to detect single optical photons with an energy resolution close to that of a single STJ pixel. We have produced a Ta absorber strip with Ta/Al/AlOx/Al/Nb/Ta junctions at either end. The energy and position of single photons were measured simultaneously. The energy resolving power approaches the theoretical limit. We will present a simple Monte Carlo simulation which reproduces the measurement exactly.
{
"annotation_id": "c44fc2ec-62ac-4b16-a884-f2a7e57640ca",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:01:00.417000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:01:00.417000Z",
"file_hash": "2041c9bb0b15a2c38a80443dd022f85f461d4ffb7af9de512c96d13f8bfa6cfa",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "Superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs) are able to measure the energy of\nsingle photons in the range from near infrared to X-rays. They provide\nsimultaneous information of the impact time and wavelength of an absorbed\nphoton. The main difficulty of these detectors compared with conventional\nimaging detectors lies in their limited pixel number. Each STJ has to be\nconnected independently and therefore the wiring becomes technologically more\ndemanding as the number of STJs increases. One approach to solving this problem\nis to use a single large absorber and to distribute STJs for position sensitive\nsignal readout. This configuration is able to detect single optical photons\nwith an energy resolution close to that of a single STJ pixel.\n We have produced a Ta absorber strip with Ta/Al/AlOx/Al/Nb/Ta junctions at\neither end. The energy and position of single photons were measured\nsimultaneously. The energy resolving power approaches the theoretical limit. We\nwill present a simple Monte Carlo simulation which reproduces the measurement\nexactly.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0507010",
"authors": [
"Iwan Jerjen",
"Eugenie Kirk",
"Elmar Schmid",
"Alex Zehnder"
],
"categories": [
"physics.ins-det"
],
"doi": "10.1016/j.nima.2005.12.084",
"journal_ref": "Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. A 559, 497 (2006)",
"title": "Distributed readout detectors using superconducting tunnel junctions",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0507010"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "9bc645a1-a4bf-41c9-9b28-bd602915f17e",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}