Tantalum superconducting tunnel junctions for photon counting detectors

C. Jorel; P. Feautrier; J.-C. Villégier; A. Benoit

doi:doi:10.1051/jp420020055

Numéro		J. Phys. IV France Volume 12, Numéro 3, May 2002


Page(s)		145 - 148
DOI		https://doi.org/10.1051/jp420020055

J. Phys. IV France 12 (2002) Pr3-145
DOI: 10.1051/jp420020055

Tantalum superconducting tunnel junctions for photon counting detectors

C. Jorel^{1, 2}, P. Feautrier¹, J.-C. Villégier² and A. Benoit³

¹ LAOG, 414 rue de la Piscine, Domaine Universitaire, 38040 Grenoble cedex 9, France
² CEA Grenoble, SPSMS/LCP, 38054 Grenoble cedex 9, France
³ CRTBT, CNRS, BP. 166, 38042 Grenoble cedex 9, France

Abstract
This paper presents the fabrication of Ta Superconducting Tunnel Junction detector working at 0.2 K to be used for photon counting instruments in astronomical applications. We would like to operate this type of detectors up to 2.5 Mm with a moderate energy resolution in order to offer innovative instrumental perspectives to the astronomical community. The Ta junction fabrication and characterization as well as photon counting experiments in the near-infrared are presented. Fabrication process improvements are discussed at the end of this paper.