High-resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy with a microwave-multiplexed transition-edge sensor array

Abstract

We demonstrate very high resolution photon spectroscopy with a microwave-multiplexed two-pixel transition-edge sensor (TES) array. We measured a ${}^{153}$Gd photon source and achieved an energy resolution of 63 eV full-width-at-half-maximum at 97 keV and an equivalent readout system noise of 86 pA/$\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ at the TES. The readout circuit consists of superconducting microwave resonators coupled to radio-frequency superconducting-quantum-interference-devices (SQUID) and transduces changes in input current to changes in phase of a microwave signal. We use flux-ramp modulation to linearize the response and evade low-frequency noise. This demonstration establishes one path for the readout of cryogenic X-ray and gamma-ray sensor arrays with more than $10^3$ elements and spectral resolving powers $R=\lambda /\Delta \lambda >10^3$.

5 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Applied Physics Letters, Vol 103, Issue 20, on 11-Nov-2013

References in corpus (4)

• Contribution of dielectrics to frequency and noise of NbTiN superconducting resonators
• A Position Sensitive X-ray Spectrophotometer using Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors
• Crosstalk Reduction for Superconducting Microwave Resonator Arrays
• Position and energy-resolved particle detection using phonon-mediated microwave kinetic inductance detectors

Cited by in corpus (22)

• HOLMES - The Electron Capture Decay of 163Ho to Measure the Electron Neutrino Mass with sub-eV sensitivity
• Review: Far-Infrared Instrumentation and Technology Development for the Next Decade
• Microwave SQUID Multiplexer demonstration for Cosmic Microwave Background Imagers
• Testing Quantum Electrodynamics with Exotic Atoms
• The use of low temperature detectors for direct measurements of the mass of the electron neutrino
• High sensitivity phonon-mediated kinetic inductance detector with combined amplitude and phase read-out
• Working principle and demonstrator of microwave-multiplexing for the HOLMES experiment microcalorimeters
• Microwave-multiplexed qubit controller using adiabatic superconductor logic
• Potentialities of the future technical improvements in the search of rare nuclear decays by bolometers
• Measuring the electron neutrino mass with improved sensitivity: the HOLMES experiment
• Performance and uniformity of a kilo-pixel array of Ti/Au transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters
• Transition Edge Sensor Chip Design of Modular CEνNS Detector for the Ricochet Experiment
• Improved microwave SQUID multiplexer readout using a kinetic-inductance traveling-wave parametric amplifier
• Improved Plutonium and Americium Photon Branching Ratios from Microcalorimeter Gamma Spectroscopy
• Progress in the development of TES microcalorimeter detectors suitable for neutrino mass measurement
• An adiabatic superconductor comparator with 46 nA sensitivity
• BFORE: The B-mode Foreground Experiment
• A Scalable Cryogenic LED Module for Selectively Illuminating Kinetic Inductance Detector Arrays
• Development of microwave superconducting microresonators for neutrino mass measurement in the HOLMES framework
• Development of an Array of Kinetic Inductance Magnetometers (KIMs)
• Development of microwave-multiplexed superconductive detectors for the HOLMES experiment
• Multiplexed readout demonstration of a TES-based detector array in a resistance locked loop