We are developing a superconducting analog-to-digital converter (ADC) as a readout for high-resolution X-ray detectors based on a superconducting tunnel junction (STJ). The ADC has a sensitive front end which consists of a DC superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). A signal current is digitized by this front end without using any preamplifiers. A single-flux-quantum (SFQ) pulse train whose frequency is proportional to the input current is launched by the front end, and integrated by a digital counter. The counter has a 10-bit resolution, and the integrated value is scanned and transferred to room-temperature processing modules with a frequency of 40 MHz. In this paper, the design of the ADC is described, and the preliminary results of the ADC performance test are shown. The performance of the STJ accompanied by the ADC is discussed in terms of the X-ray energy resolution.

Antenna-coupled kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) have recently shown great promise as microwave detection systems with a large number of channels. However, this technique, still has difficulties in eliminating the radiation loss of the resonator signals. To solve this problem, we propose a design in which the absorption area connected to an antenna is located on the ground-side of a coplanar waveguide. Thereby, radiation loss due to leakage from the resonator to the antenna can be considerably reduced. This simple design also enables the use of a contact aligner for fabrication. We have developed KIDs with this design, named as the ground-side absorption (GSA)-KIDs and demonstrated that they have higher quality factors than those of the existing KIDs, while maintaining a good total sensitivity.

Present status of the development of superconducting tunnel junctions for the detection of X-ray photons and heavy ions is reported. The energy resolution for 5.9 keV X-rays was measured to be 41 eV, 58 eV, 65 eV and 129 eV with STJs of 2020 µm2, 100100 µm2, 200200 µm2 and 500500 µm2, respectively, and a model to describe the phonon-mediated X-ray signals is discussed. Direct voltage switching induced by heavy ions was successfully observed.

Superconducting Transition edge sensor (TES) coupled with a heavy metal absorber is a promising microcalorimeter for Gamma-ray (γ-ray) spectroscopy with ultra-high energy resolution and high detection efficiency. It is very useful for the non-destructed inspection of the nuclide materials. High resolving power of γ-ray peaks can precisely identify multiple nuclides such as Plutonium (Pu) and Actinides with high efficiency and safety. For this purpose, we have developed the TES coupled with a tin absorber. We suggest the new device structure using the gold bump post which connects a tin absorber to the thermometer of the superconducting Ir/Au bilayer. High thermal conductivity of the gold bump post realized strong thermal coupling between the thermometer and the γ-ray absorber, and it brought the benefit of large pulse height and fast decay time. Our TES achieved the good energy resolution of 84 eV FWHM at 59.5 keV. Using this TES device, we also succeeded to demonstrate the nuclear material measurements. In the measurement of a Pu sample, we detected the sharp γ-ray peaks from 239Pu and 240Pu, and of a Fission Products (FP) sample, we observed fluorescence X-ray peaks emitted by the elements contained in FP. The TES could resolve the fine structures of each fluorescence X-ray line like Kα1 and Kα2. In addition to that, we developed the TES coupled with tantalum absorber, which is expected to have higher absorption efficiency for γ-rays. This device reported the best energy resolution of 465 eV at 662 keV.

A precise measurement of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) provides us rich information about the universe. In particular, its asymmetric polarization patterns, $B$-modes, are smoking gun signature of inflationary universe. Magnitude of the $B$-modes is order of 10,nK. Its measurement requires a high sensitive millimeter-wave telescope with a large number of superconducting detectors on its focal plane. Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector (MKID) is appropriate detector for this purpose. MKID camera has been developed in cooperation of National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ), Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN), High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK), and Okayama University. Our developments of MKID include: fabrication of high-quality superconducting film; optical components for a camera use; and readout electronics. For performance evaluation of total integrated system of our MKID camera, a calibration system was also developed. The system was incorporated in a 0.1 K dilution refrigerator with modulated polarization source. These developed technologies are applicable to other types of detectors.