Particle and Astroparticle Physics Seminar

Application of Superconducting Quantum Sensors in Subatomic Physics

Kyle Leach

Department of Physics
Colorado School of Mines

By leveraging many years of development by the materials science, quantum computing, astronomy, and AMO communities, we have entered an era where practical precision experiments are possible (and already taking data) in subatomic physics with superconducting quantum sensors. These devices are characterized by their exceptionally high energy resolution (few eV) and extreme sensitivity to a wide range of radiation energies from the eV to MeV scales. In general, they operate on the principle of measuring i) small thermal changes in the sensor or ii) cryogenic charge collection via quasiparticle tunneling. These devices are operated at temperatures ranging from 5 – 100 mK, and require exceptional control over their environment, which can fairly easily be achieved these days through commercial “off-the-shelf” solutions. In this talk, I will describe a selection of these powerful technologies and where they are currently being applied to fundamental searches for new physics from the keV – TeV scale, as well as discuss some of the unique challenges associated with this field.