Planar detector of a device for detecting corpuscular or electromagnetic radiation, and method for manufacturing same

Claim 1

In a planar detector of a device for detecting corpuscular or electro-magnetic radiation utilizing the magnetic superheating properties of small, superconductive particles cooled by a cryogenic medium and disposed in a homogeneous magnetic field, with a device for magneto-optical registration of the irradiated particles by detecting the extent of polarization-plane rotation of polarized light passing through a transparent body of magneto-optically active material disposed in a region about the irradiated particles, the improvement comprising the receiving layer of the detector being subdivided into small metallic superconducting detector elements of approximately equal size and having radiation-receiving surfaces with edge lengths no greater than 0.1 mm, said superconducting detector elements being cooled indirectly and being disposed in a vacuum on a transparent magneto-optically active body of a material which rotates the plane of polarization of plane-polarized light in the presence of a magnetic field, the thickness of said transparent body being less than the edge length of said superconducting detector elements; means for illuminating the superconducting detector elements from the rear with a monochromatic, linearly polarized light beam, said super-conducting detector elements being provided at the rear with contact surfaces engaging said transparent body, said contact surfaces being highly reflective to said monochromatic, linearly polarized light beam; and means for visually observing, photographing or otherwise recording light reflected from said contact surfaces via a crossed polarization filter.