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Simulation and measurement of blackbody radiation background in a transition edge sensor

José Alejandro Rubiera Gimeno*,†, Friederike Januschek, Axel Lindner, and Christina Schwemmbauer

Katharina-Sophie Isleif

Manuel Meyer and Elmeri Rivasto

Gulden Othman*

Rikhav Shah‡

  • CP3-Origins, University of Southern Denmark, Campusvej 55, 5230 Odense M, Denmark

  • *Present address: Helmut-Schmidt-Universität (HSU), Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg, Germany.
  • †Contact author: jose.rubiera.gimeno@desy.de
  • ‡Present address: Institut für Quantenphysik, Universität Hamburg UHH, Notkestraße 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany.
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Phys. Rev. D 112, 032001 – Published 4 August, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/hqmt-vq1g

Abstract

The Any Light Particle Search II (ALPS II) experiment at Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron, Hamburg, is a light-shining-through-a-wall experiment aiming to probe the existence of axions and axionlike particles, which are candidates for dark matter. Data collection in ALPS II is underway utilizing a heterodyne-based detection scheme. A complementary run for confirmation or as an alternative method is planned using single photon detection, requiring a sensor capable of measuring low-energy photons (1064 nm, 1.165 eV) with high efficiency (higher than 50%) and a low background rate (below 7.7×10−6  cps). To meet these requirements, we are investigating a tungsten Transition Edge Sensor (TES) provided by NIST, which operates in its superconducting transition region at millikelvin temperatures. This sensor exploits the drastic change in resistance caused by the absorption of a single photon. We find that the background observed in the setup with a fiber-coupled TES is consistent with Black Body Radiation (BBR) as the primary background contributor. A framework was developed to simulate BBR propagation to the TES under realistic conditions. The framework not only allows the exploration of background reduction strategies, such as improving the TES energy resolution, but also reproduces, within uncertainties, the spectral distribution of the observed background. These simulations have been validated with experimental data, in agreement with the modeled background distribution, and show that the improved energy resolution reduces the background rate in the 1064 nm signal region by 1 order of magnitude, to approximately 10−4  cps. However, this rate must be reduced further to meet the ALPS II requirements.

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Phys. Rev. D 112, 032001– Published 4 August, 2025
  • Received 27 May 2025
  • Accepted 26 June 2025
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Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

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