Microwave SQUID Multiplexer for Readout of Optical Transition Edge Sensor Array

Photon imaging technology is applied in various research fields such as quantum information communication and biological imaging. We have been developing photon-counting devices using optical transition edge sensors (TES). We demonstrated a single-photon spectroscopic imaging system comprising an optical TES and a scanning microscope. However, a great number of TES pixels are required to increase the field of view in the imaging system. To read out the TES array, output signals need to be multiplexed. Microwave SQUID multiplexer (MW-Mux) is a kind of frequency multiplexing method with a carrier wave having a frequency of several GHz, and it can be used to widen the frequency band. In this paper, we report the first demonstration on readout of an optical TES with MW-Mux.