Cryogenic detectors based on superconducting transition-edge sensors for time-energy-resolved single-photon counters and for dark matter searches

We present the recent progress using transition-edge sensors (TES) for cryogenic particle detectors. First, by directly absorbing photons in tungsten TES devices, an instrument has been made which time stamps (0.1 mu s) and energy resolves (0.15 eV FWHM) each photon at rates up to 10 kHz. Observations of the Crab pulsar are the first broad spectrum infrared through full optical and time resolved on any astronomical object. Second, in the CDMS (cryogenic dark matter search) experiment looking for WIMPs, large crystals of silicon and germanium are instrumented with QET (quasiparticle-trap-assisted electrothermal-feedback transition-edge sensors) phonon sensors which provide the recoil energy and location in x, y and z for each event. Together with an ionization readout, these detectors provide powerful discrimination capabilities against known backgrounds and they are now probing new regions for WIMP dark matter. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.