Applications of superheated superconducting detectors

When an incident particle collides with 8- mu m superheated superconducting granules, if the deposition of energy within the granule is sufficient to overcome an energy threshold, the granule will change state. The Meissner effect characteristic of the superconducting state suddenly vanishes and the magnetic field penetrates into the granule, causing a change of flux in a pickup coil containing this granule. This effect provides a practical detector if large numbers of granules are used. X-ray imaging devices, transition-radiation detectors and indium solar neutrino detectors are briefly presented, together with a discussion of the main features of this type of detector.