A prototype dark matter detector using a series array of aluminum superconducting tunnel junctions

The authors have fabricated an array of series-connected superconducting aluminum tunnel junctions on the surface of a large sapphire crystal, as a prototype of a detector for massive, weakly interacting elementary particles. Such particles might constitute the missing matter of our galaxy. Tests on a 14-g crystal with 6-MeV alpha particles gave an energy resolution of 450 keV full width at half maximum (300 keV due to electronics and microphonics alone). The ultimate energy resolution to be obtained from this type of detector is discussed.<
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