Superconducting Tunnel Junctions as Nuclear Particle Detectors

Abstract

In reviewing the large variety of possibilities offered by superconductivity in the small scale applications, it is often neglected the important role which can be played by superconducting tunnel junctions as radiation detectors in physics and astrophysics. The growing interest of such devices in this context lies in the perspective of outstanding performances, partially already demonstrated, in the high energy spectrometry, in the fast discrimination, in the spatial resolution. In this article we shall confine our attention to the first topic. As far as the drawbacks of cryogenic requirements are concerned, it should be point out that conventional semiconductor junction detectors require liquid nitrogen not only during operation but also for storage since those devices are not thermally cyclable. In the other hand helium cryostat technology is dramatically improving and, if confined to a temperature of the order of a few degrees (1–4 K), cryocoolers extremely compact within today can provide the necessary cryogenic environment for space based equipment.