Beyond one-thousandth energy resolution with an AlMn TES detector

The superconducting Transition-Edge Sensor (TES) is a critical technology for next-generation x-ray spectrometers, known for its exceptional energy resolution. In the last decade, TESs based on AlMn alloy films have been extensively used in several cosmic microwave background experiments. The advantages of simple fabrication process and easily tunable critical temperature make them an alternative to bilayer TESs. However, they have rarely been applied to x-ray detection until now. We developed an annular AlMn TES for x-ray detection and tested it in a dilution refrigerator with a superconducting quantum interference device amplifier, achieving a full width at half maximum of 12.1 ± 0.3 eV at 17.48 keV. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of an AlMn TES achieving an energy resolution below 0.1%, highlighting its potential for high-resolution x-ray detection.