Broadband Optical Modulation and Control at Millikelvin Temperatures
Abstract
A universal experimental challenge when studying radiation effects on cryogenic devices is to precisely and accurately characterize the position-dependent device response very near the energy detection threshold. We have developed a compact cryogenic optical beam steering system that can be used to generate O({\mu}s) pulses of small numbers of photons over the energy range of 1.2 - 4.5eV at room temperature, and deliver those photons via fiber optic to any specified location on the surface of a detector operating at cryogenic temperatures. This new system will allow for robust calibration of any photon-sensitive detector, including supercondcting devices. The system can be used efficiently to explore the physics of target materials, quantify the position sensitivity of different sensor designs, measure phonon transport, and study the effects of quasiparticle poisoning on detector operation. We describe the design of this pulsed calibration method and present first results obtained with a second-generation system operated at room temperature and sub-Kelvin temperatures.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2504.06995,
title = {Broadband Optical Modulation and Control at Millikelvin Temperatures},
author = {N. Tabassum and T. Aralis and J. Anczarski and D. Baxter and B. Cabrera and R. Chapla and N. Entin and L. Hsu and H. W. Magoon and A. Nunez and J. L. Ryan and M. Salatino and A. Simchony and Z. J. Smith and S. Stevens and G. Pérez and H. Stueber and B. A. Young and N. A. Kurinsky and K. Stifter},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2504.06995},
year = {2025}
}
Comments
16 pages, 9 figures. Results presented at APS Global Physics Summit 2025, pre-print being prepared for journal submission