Exploring the performance of SiPM at cryogenic temperature for the sub-meV threshold detector

Abstract: This paper proposes a new detector concept that uses the decoupling of superconducting Cooper pairs to detect particles, which has a theoretical energy threshold at the sub-meV level. However, quasiparticles decoupled from Cooper pairs in superconductors is difficult to detect using conventional photoelectric devices, since the binding energy of Cooper pairs is at the sub-meV scale. A key challenge is reading out quasiparticle signals at cryogenic temperatures. Therefore, we firstly investigate the performance of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) at a cryogenic temperature of 10~mK, and observed that the dark count rate drops by seven orders of magnitude compared to room temperature, while the gain decreases by only a factor of 4.44. In this paper, we present a comprehensive characterization of the SiPM's performance at 10~mK, including breakdown voltage, second breakdown and operating voltage range, single-photoelectron gain and resolution, dark count rate, output waveform characteristics, and the probability of correlated signals. Based on these findings, we propose a conceptual framework for a sub-meV particle detector that uses electron multiplication in a PN junction for signal readout.