Introduction to IEC Standardization for Superconducting Sensors and Detectors

Superconducting sensors and detectors have been applied to many fields or beginning to enter the maturing stage. The applications spread over a wide range of fields such as radio telescope, medical examination, quantum information, contamination inspection, materials analysis, etc. For users of the superconducting devices as well as developers, we have to avoid confusion of naming, graphical circuit symbols, and measurement methods for device performance. We are trying to formulate international standards under the International Electrotechnical Commission - Technical Committee 90 (IEC-TC90), which is responsible for superconductivity. The sensors and detectors to be considered are divided into two groups: coherent sensors (SQUID, SIS mixers, etc.) and direct detectors (TES, STJ, MKID, SSPD, etc.).