Abstract

The sharp change in resistance of a superconductor over a narrow temperature range is both a natural temperature reference and an attractive thermometer. A Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) consists of a 2dimensional metal film that is electrically biased into the superconducting phase transition, where its temperature and resistance respond to deposited energy [1]. TES thermometers have enabled some of the most sensitive calorimetric and bolometric measurements known. TES measurements of single X-ray, gamma-ray, and alpha quanta achieve the highest resolving powers of any energy-dispersive technique: E/△E ≈ 4000-5000 [2–4]. Arrays of TES microbolometers are integral to modern submillimeter and millimeter-wave astronomy, achieving microkelvin sensitivity in maps of the cosmic microwave background (for example, see Ref. 5). Despite the broad use and success of these sensors, much remains uncertain about their behavior, including their internal current distribution and the physics that determines the width of the superconducting transition under bias.

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