According to one embodiment, a superconducting element used as a pixel for detecting a particle is disclosed. The superconducting element includes at least one superconducting strip. The at least one superconducting strip includes a superconducting portion extending in a first direction, including first and second ends and made of a first superconducting material, a first conductive portion connected to the first end of the superconducting portion, and a second conductive portion connected to the second end of the superconducting portion. A superconducting region of the superconducting portion is configured to be dived when the particle is made incident on the superconducting portion along the first direction via the first conductive portion.

A device and methods for use thereof in low-temperature thermal scanning microscopy, providing non-contact, non-invasive localized temperature and thermal conductivity measurements in nanometer scale ranges with a temperature resolution in the micro-Kelvin order. A superconductive cap mounted on the tip of an elongated support probe is electrically-connected to superconductive leads for carrying electrical current through the cap. The critical superconducting current of the leads is configured to be greater than the critical current supported by the cap, and the cap's critical current is configured to be a function of its temperature. Thus, the temperature of the cap is measured by measuring its critical superconducting current. In a related embodiment, driving a current greater than the critical current of the cap quenches the cap's superconductivity, and permits the cap to dissipate resistive heat into the sample being scanned. Scanning of the sample in this mode thus images its thermal conductivity patterns.

Electrical, mechanical, computing, and/or other devices that include components formed of extremely low resistance (ELR) materials, including, but not limited to, modified ELR materials, layered ELR materials, and new ELR materials, are described.

An x-ray spectrometer system includes: an excitation source that produces excitation particles and irradiates a sample with the excitation particles such that the sample produces x-rays; thermal detectors that: detect the x-rays from the sample; and produce digital x-ray data in response to detecting the x-rays from the sample, the x-ray data including x-ray pulses; and an analyzer that includes a multichannel receiver that receives, in parallel, the digital x-ray data from the thermal detectors and that: rejects pulse pileup in the digital x-ray data and produces pass data from the digital x-ray data; subjects the pass data to an optimal filter to produce filter data; determines a pulse height of x-ray pulses in the filter data to produce pulse data; combines the pulse data to produce combined data; and calibrates the combined data to produce calibrated data.

Electrical, mechanical, computing, and/or other devices that include components formed of extremely low resistance (ELR) materials, including, but not limited to, modified ELR materials, layered ELR materials, and new ELR materials, are described.

An x-ray spectrometer system includes: an excitation source that produces excitation particles and irradiates a sample with the excitation particles such that the sample produces x-rays; thermal detectors that: detect the x-rays from the sample; and produce digital x-ray data in response to detecting the x-rays from the sample, the x-ray data including x-ray pulses; and an analyzer that includes a multichannel receiver that receives, in parallel, the digital x-ray data from the thermal detectors and that: rejects pulse pileup in the digital x-ray data and produces pass data from the digital x-ray data; subjects the pass data to an optimal filter to produce filter data; determines a pulse height of x-ray pulses in the filter data to produce pulse data; combines the pulse data to produce combined data; and calibrates the combined data to produce calibrated data.

A method and a structure for a low temperature thermometer is provided. The present invention may include a method of determining an ambient temperature is below a transition temperature, the method including measuring a magnetic field of a magnetic field source, where a superconducting film is positioned between a magnetic field sensor and the magnetic field source, where the superconducting film has the transition temperature, T.sub.c, based on determining the measured magnetic field approximately equals an expected magnetic field of the magnetic field source, outputting a first state of a switch, wherein the first state of the switch indicates the ambient temperature is above the T.sub.c, based on determining the measured magnetic field is less than the expected magnetic field, outputting a second state of the switch, where the second state of the switch indicates the ambient temperature is below the T.sub.c.

Electrical, mechanical, computing, and/or other devices that include components formed of extremely low resistance (ELR) materials, including, but not limited to, modified ELR materials, layered ELR materials, and new ELR materials, are described.

Provided is a superconducting transition-edge thermal sensor, comprising a superconducting film defining an active area for incidence of quanta thereon, wherein the superconducting film is made of a superconductor exhibiting a charge carrier density below 10.sup.13 cm.sup.?2 and an electronic heat capacity below 10.sup.3 kb at the critical temperature Tc of said superconductor, wherein the superconductor is formed by two or more layers of two-dimensional crystals stacked on top of another.

Technology is disclosed herein that the enhances the measurability of on-chip temperature in a cryogenic quantum computing environment. In an implementation, transceiver circuitry sends a probe signal through a target device. A lumped-element resonator device that is proximate to the surface of the target device interacts with the probe signal and modulates the probe signal. Processing circuitry reads the probe signal through the target device, and responsively measures the resonance frequency of the lumped-element resonator device. The processing circuitry correlates the measured resonance frequency with a temperature and responsively determines the temperature of the target device.