Superconducting devices have demonstrated an unprecedented performance in the detection of weak electromagnetic signatures. One prominent application nowadays is the wide field of radio astronomy. Since photons in the sub-mm wavelength band contain most of the information about the origins of our universe sensitive detectors for these bands are strongly required by astrophysicists. Together with the Max-Planck Institute for radio astronomy in Bonn our group develops bolometric detectors based on superconducting transition edge sensors (TES). A camera consisting of 300 such bolometers will soon be installed at a 12 meter radio telescope in the high desert Atacama in Chile. The instrument readout is based on the sophisticated IPHT SQUID technology, with an adapted time domain multiplexer for cost-efficiency.

Beyond it the technology of bolometric detectors can easily be expanded to other wavelength up to high energy photons as X-ray or Gamma-ray. As an example IPHT detectors are in use in commercial X-ray spectrometers as supplied by Vericold technologies.