A new biasing technique for transition edge sensors with electrothermal feedback

Abstract

We have developed a new operating mode for superconducting transition edge sensors (TES) used in cryogenic particle detection which use electrothermal feedback (ETF). By using the new technique with the optical photon detectors our group has developed, we have been able to reduce the decay time of the pulses from the detector by more than a factor of five. The technique involves reducing the voltage bias across the tungsten superconducting detector during a pulse. By reducing the voltage during a pulse, there is an additional reduction in joule heating which speeds up the recovery of the detector. In theory, the technique reduces the decay time of the pulses which allows for higher maximum count rates. In addition to a brief theoretical analysis of the benefits of the technique, we present experimental results and analysis demonstrating a pulse decay time reduction by a factor of five.