Abstract
Cryodetectors with superconducting sensors have been actively developed and optimized during the past years. This review discusses the operating principles of the two detector concepts, superconducting tunnel junctions and low-temperature bolometer or calorimeter. Progress in research with cryodetectors manifested itself by many successful device demonstrations and as a result, a shift in emphasis from pure detector optimization towards actual applications has been observed. Cryodetectors have been used for X-ray fluorescence, optical photon detection, mass spectroscopy of heavy molecules, etc. Nevertheless, there is still room for further improvement until the detectors will have actually reached their theoretical limitations.
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