A Deposited Magnetic Thermometer for Temperatures below 0.1 Kelvin

Magnetic thermometers are much less sensitive to self-heating due to rf noise than are traditional resistive thermometers. This makes them appealing at temperatures well below 0.1 Kelvin in the operating range of many space-flight detectors. We have developed and tested a magnetic thermometer which is deposited directly onto a substrate. This device, which uses the temperature dependence of iron-doped palladium's magnetic susceptibility, includes self-shielding deposited coils surrounding a sputtered palladium layer. It is read out using a SQUID to achieve high resolution. Its small size and perfect heat sinking should make it useful for the temperature control of space flight detector arrays, in particular those already using SQUID readouts. The design and test results for this device are discussed.