Nano-kelvin DC and AC Meissner-TES Thermometry

Published

February 4, 2019

Author(s)

Solomon I. Woods, Adriaan C. Carter, Timothy M. Jung, Dana R. Defibaugh

Abstract

The Meissner-TES is a relatively new type of high resolution cryogenic thermometer based upon a transition edge sensor (TES) which employs the magnetic transition of a superconductor to measure temperature. We have improved the signal-to-noise for DC sensing by a factor of 40, and developed a new AC mode which uses an oscillating magnetic field and lock-in technique with much lower noise than the DC mode. The thermometer was tuned in situ over a range of operating temperatures 10 to 50 times larger than the transition width of the superconductor, using an applied persistent magnetic field. The DC mode has nano-kelvin sensitivity for one minute averaging, and the AC mode has sensitivity near 100 nK for very small applied magnetic fields near 0.11 microTesla and one minute averaging. Practical nano-kelvin thermometry has been achieved using the Meissner-TES, and can be applied to high resolution temperature control, optical power scale realization, and the study of temperature-dependent phase transitions.

Citation

Applied Physics Letters

Volume

90

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5046670

Local Download

Keywords

transition edge sensor, high resolution thermometry, Meissner effect, SQUID, cryogenic thermometry

Citation

Woods, S. , Carter, A. , Jung, T. and Defibaugh, D. (2019), Nano-kelvin DC and AC Meissner-TES Thermometry, Applied Physics Letters, [online], https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5046670 (Accessed October 13, 2025)