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Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Energy Dispersive X-ray Tomography for 3D Elemental Mapping of Individual Nanoparticles
Published on: July 5, 2016
Few-photon color imaging using energy-dispersive superconducting transition-edge sensor spectrometry
Kazuki Niwa1, Takayuki Numata1, Kaori Hattori1
1Quantum Optical Measurement Group, Research Institute for Physical Measurement, National Metrology Institute of Japan, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Japan.
Abstract:
Highly sensitive spectral imaging is increasingly being demanded in bioanalysis research and industry to obtain the maximum information possible from molecules of different colors. We introduce an application of the superconducting transition-edge sensor (TES) technique to highly sensitive spectral imaging. A TES is an energy-dispersive photodetector that can distinguish the wavelength of each incident photon. Its effective spectral range is from the visible to the infrared (IR), up to 2800 nm, which is beyond the capabilities of other photodetectors. TES was employed in this study in a fiber-coupled optical scanning microscopy system, and a test sample of a three-color ink pattern was observed. A red-green-blue (RGB) image and a near-IR image were successfully obtained in the few-incident-photon regime, whereas only a black and white image could be obtained using a photomultiplier tube. Spectral data were also obtained from a selected focal area out of the entire image. The results of this study show that TES is feasible for use as an energy-dispersive photon-counting detector in spectral imaging applications.
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