arXiv subjects

Mauro Rajteri

Publications and source records attributed to Mauro Rajteri.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Dark counts in optical superconducting transition-edge sensors for rare-event searches

Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) are a type of quantum sensor known for its high single-photon detection efficiency and low background. This makes them ideal for particle physics experiments searching for rare events. In this work, we present a comprehensive characterization of the background in optical TESs, distinguishing three types of events: electrical-noise, high-energy, and photonlike events. We introduce computational methods to automate the classification of events. For the first time, we experimentally verify and simulate the source of the high-energy events. We also isolate the photonlike events, the expected signal in dielectric haloscopes searching for dark matter dark photons, and achieve a record-low photonlike dark-count rate of $3.6 \times 10^{-4}$ Hz in the 0.8-3.2 eV energy range.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2024

Detection of Low-Energy Electrons with Transition-Edge Sensors

We present the first detection of electrons with kinetic energy in the 100 eV range with transition-edge sensors (TESs). This has been achieved with a $(100\times 100)$ $μ$m$^2$ Ti-Au bilayer TES, with a critical temperature of about 84 mK. The electrons are produced directly in the cryostat by an innovative cold source based on field emission from vertically-aligned multiwall carbon nanotubes. We obtain a Gaussian energy resolution between 0.8 and 1.8 eV for fully-absorbed electrons in the $(90-101)$ eV energy range, which is found to be compatible with the resolution of this same device for photons in the same energy range. This work opens new possibilities for high-precision energy measurements of low-energy electrons.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2021

Status of the SIMP Project: Toward the Single Microwave Photon Detection

The Italian institute for nuclear physics (INFN) has financed the SIMP project (2019-2021) in order to strengthen its skills and technologies in the field of meV detectors with the ultimate aim of developing a single microwave photon detector. This goal will be pursued by improving the sensitivity and the dark count rate of two types of photodetectors: current biased Josephson Junction (JJ) for the frequency range 10-50 GHz and Transition Edge Sensor (TES) for the frequency range 30-100 GHz. Preliminary results on materials and devices characterization are presented.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2020

Development of highly sensitive nanoscale transition edge sensors for gigahertz astronomy and dark matter search

Terahertz and sub-terahertz band detection has a key role both in fundamental interactions physics and technological applications, such as medical imaging, industrial quality control and homeland security. In particular, transition edge sensors (TESs) and kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) are the most employed bolometers and calorimeters in the THz and sub-THz band for astrophysics and astroparticles research. Here, we present the electronic, thermal and spectral characterization of an aluminum/copper bilayer sensing structure that, thanks to its thermal properties and a simple miniaturized design, could be considered a perfect candidate to realize an extremely sensitive class of nanoscale TES (nano-TES) for the giga-therahertz band. Indeed, thanks to the reduced dimensionality of the active region and the efficient Andreev mirror (AM) heat confinement, our devices are predicted to reach state-of-the-art TES performance. In particular, as a bolometer the nano-TES is expected to have a noise equivalent power (NEP) of $5\times10^{-20}$ W/$\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ and a relaxation time of $\sim 10$ ns for the sub-THz band, typical of cosmic microwave background studies. When operated as single-photon sensor, the devices are expected to show a remarkable frequency resolution of 100 GHz, pointing towards the necessary energy sensitivity requested in laboratory axion search experiments. Finally, different multiplexing schemes are proposed and sized for imaging applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Quantum characterization of superconducting photon counters

We address the quantum characterization of photon counters based on transition-edge sensors (TESs) and present the first experimental tomography of the positive operator-valued measure (POVM) of a TES. We provide the reliable tomographic reconstruction of the POVM elements up to 11 detected photons and M=100 incoming photons, demonstrating that it is a linear detector.

quant-ph↗