Characterization of a Wide-Band Single-Photon Detector Based on Transition-Edge Sensor

A superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) as a microcalorimeter detects incoming photons by measuring heat converted from photon energy. With high resolving power and low noise levels, a TES is sensitive to single photons and able to count photons within a wide spectral band from X-ray to near-...

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Main Authors: Jingkai Xia, Shuo Zhang, Bingjun Wu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Photonics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/12/6/609
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author Jingkai Xia
Shuo Zhang
Bingjun Wu
author_facet Jingkai Xia
Shuo Zhang
Bingjun Wu
author_sort Jingkai Xia
collection DOAJ
description A superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) as a microcalorimeter detects incoming photons by measuring heat converted from photon energy. With high resolving power and low noise levels, a TES is sensitive to single photons and able to count photons within a wide spectral band from X-ray to near-infrared. We have developed a TES detector aiming at soft X-ray spectroscopy applications. In this work, the performance of this detector is characterized. It is shown that the energy resolution of this detector is about 1.8 eV for 1.5 keV photons. The good resolution is also kept in visible range, enabling photon-number resolving for 405 nm photons.
format Article
id doaj-art-610e5ba9968741c68ef5da8f9baaba68
institution Kabale University
issn 2304-6732
language English
publishDate 2025-06-01
publisher MDPI AG
record_format Article
series Photonics
spelling doaj-art-610e5ba9968741c68ef5da8f9baaba682025-08-20T03:27:22ZengMDPI AGPhotonics2304-67322025-06-0112660910.3390/photonics12060609Characterization of a Wide-Band Single-Photon Detector Based on Transition-Edge SensorJingkai Xia0Shuo Zhang1Bingjun Wu2Key Laboratory for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Ministry of Education (MoE), Shanghai 201210, ChinaAdvanced Energy Science and Technology Guangdong Provincial Laboratory, Huizhou 516007, ChinaShanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai 200050, ChinaA superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) as a microcalorimeter detects incoming photons by measuring heat converted from photon energy. With high resolving power and low noise levels, a TES is sensitive to single photons and able to count photons within a wide spectral band from X-ray to near-infrared. We have developed a TES detector aiming at soft X-ray spectroscopy applications. In this work, the performance of this detector is characterized. It is shown that the energy resolution of this detector is about 1.8 eV for 1.5 keV photons. The good resolution is also kept in visible range, enabling photon-number resolving for 405 nm photons.https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/12/6/609single-photon detectorsuperconducting transition-edge sensorenergy resolutionphoton-number resolving
spellingShingle Jingkai Xia
Shuo Zhang
Bingjun Wu
Characterization of a Wide-Band Single-Photon Detector Based on Transition-Edge Sensor
Photonics
single-photon detector
superconducting transition-edge sensor
energy resolution
photon-number resolving
title Characterization of a Wide-Band Single-Photon Detector Based on Transition-Edge Sensor
title_full Characterization of a Wide-Band Single-Photon Detector Based on Transition-Edge Sensor
title_fullStr Characterization of a Wide-Band Single-Photon Detector Based on Transition-Edge Sensor
title_full_unstemmed Characterization of a Wide-Band Single-Photon Detector Based on Transition-Edge Sensor
title_short Characterization of a Wide-Band Single-Photon Detector Based on Transition-Edge Sensor
title_sort characterization of a wide band single photon detector based on transition edge sensor
topic single-photon detector
superconducting transition-edge sensor
energy resolution
photon-number resolving
url https://www.mdpi.com/2304-6732/12/6/609
work_keys_str_mv AT jingkaixia characterizationofawidebandsinglephotondetectorbasedontransitionedgesensor
AT shuozhang characterizationofawidebandsinglephotondetectorbasedontransitionedgesensor
AT bingjunwu characterizationofawidebandsinglephotondetectorbasedontransitionedgesensor