An energy-resolving superconducting nanowire photon counter

Semenov, Alexey; Haas, P.; Günther, Burghardt; Hübers, Heinz‐Wilhelm; Ilin, K.; Siegel, M.; Kirste, A.; Beyer, J.; Drung, Ditrich; Schurig, T.; Смирнов, А. В.

doi:10.1088/0953-2048/20/10/005

Cited by 38 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…For the superconducting transmission line, the inductance is primarily given by the kinetic inductance of the nanowire. We found earlier [29] that the total kinetic inductance of the meander grows with the current that qualitatively explains the current dependence of the timing jitter. Bends in the nanowire represent local disturbances in the transmission line which further reduce the average velocity and increase jitter.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Current dependence of the hot-spot response spectrum of superconducting single-photon detectors with different layouts

Charaev

Semenov

Doerner

et al. 2016

Supercond. Sci. Technol.

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We show that avoiding bends in a current-carrying superconducting nanowire enhances the probability for low energy photons to be detected and that this enhancement is entirely due to the increase in the experimentally achievable critical current. We studied nanowires shaped as either meander or spiral. The spirals had different layouts, a double-spiral layout with an S-turn in the middle and a single-spiral layout without such turn. Nanowires were prepared from films of niobium nitride with a thickness of 5 nm. For specimens with each layout we measured the spectra of the single-photon response in the wavelength range from 400 nm to 1600 nm and defined the cut-off wavelength (λc) beyond which the response rolls off. The largest and the smallest λc were found for the single-spiral layout and for the meander, respectively. For all three layouts the relationship between λc and the relative bias current falls onto a universal curve which has been predicted earlier in the framework of the modified hot-spot model. For the single-spiral layout, the efficiency of photon detection at wavelengths smaller than λc reaches the expected absorbance of the spiral structure and the timing jitter per unit length of the nanowire has the smallest value.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 53%

Current dependence of the hot-spot response spectrum of superconducting single-photon detectors with different layouts

Charaev

Semenov

Doerner

et al. 2016

Supercond. Sci. Technol.

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“…Here we used the meandering wire grid as a single-photon detector and compared the detection quantum efficiency for different light polarizations. It has been shown by our group 24 as well as by other groups 1,25 that the subcritically current-biased meandering wire grating is capable of counting single photons with polarization-dependent quantum efficiency. The quantum efficiency is a product of the structure absorbance and the intrinsic quantum efficiency; the latter is believed to be polarization independent.…”

Section: Optical Properties Of Nanowire Gratingsmentioning

confidence: 79%

Optical and transport properties of ultrathin NbN films and nanostructures

Semenov¹,

Günther²,

Böttger³

et al. 2009

Phys. Rev. B

169

151

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Optical and transport properties of a series of ultrathin NbN films with different thickness grown on sapphire have been evaluated by means of spectral ellipsometry and dc measurements of superconducting critical parameters. The growth process and thus the nitrogen content have been optimized for each film in the series to achieve the highest superconducting transition temperature, which however increases with the film thickness. Optical and transport measurements agree in slowly increasing disorder while the electron density of states at the Fermi level shows a twofold decrease when the film thickness drops from 14 to 3 nm. Nearinfrared extinction spectra of nanowire gratings from our films are well described by the scattering matrix method that uses optical parameters of nonstructured films and the grating geometry. The technique provides an attractive tool for analyzing various devices for nanophotonics.

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“…Using ρ n =18.7 µΩcm, ξ(0) = 4.2 nm and λ(0) = 390 nm, which are typical for NbN thin films [8], one obtains t 0 ≈1.25 ps and ϕ 0 ≈0.26 mV at T = 0.9T c , which will be the working temperature in our simulations. The coefficients u and γ are chosen as u = 5.79 and γ = 10 [17].…”

mentioning

confidence: 87%

“…[7] and references therein). Superconducting fluctuations, e.g., excitation of superconducting vortices [8][9][10][11][12], have been put forward as an explanation. Dissipative crossing of such vortices, which hop over the edge barrier, or are created due to the unbinding of thermally activated vortex-antivortex pairs, provides a good description of the experiment [10].…”

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confidence: 99%

Spatially dependent sensitivity of superconducting meanders as single-photon detectors

Berdiyorov

Miloševıć

Peeters

2012

Applied Physics Letters

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The photo-response of a thin current-carrying superconducting stripe with a 90-degree turn is studied within the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau theory. We show that the photon acting near the inner corner (where the current density is maximal due to the current crowding [J. R. Clem and K. K. Berggren, Phys. Rev. B 84, 174510 (2011)]) triggers the nucleation of superconducting vortices at currents much smaller than the expected critical one, but does not bring the system to a higher resistive state and thus remains undetected. The transition to the resistive state occurs only when the photon hits the stripe away from the corner due to there uniform current distribution across the sample, and dissipation is due to the nucleation of a kinematic vortex-antivortex pair near the photon incidence. We propose strategies to account for this problem in the measurements.PACS numbers: 74.78. Na, 74.25.Fy Superconducting current-carrying thin-film stripes have recently received a revival of interest due to their promising application for single-photon detection [1] with a high maximum count rate, broadband sensitivity, fast response time and low dark counts [2][3][4]. The singlephoton absorption event leads to the formation of a nonequilibrium "hotspot" with suppressed superconductivity, the area of which grows in time, forming a normal belt across the strip [5]. The latter leads to redistribution of the current between the now resistive superconductor and a parallel shunt resistor, where a voltage pulse is detected, before a hotspot region cools down (on a timescale of few hundred picoseconds [6]) and the system returns to its initial superconducting state. Although the hotspot mechanism nicely explains the photon detection in the visible and near UV range, the detection mechanism in the near-infrared range is still debated (see e.g. Ref. [7] and references therein). Superconducting fluctuations, e.g., excitation of superconducting vortices [8][9][10][11][12], have been put forward as an explanation. Dissipative crossing of such vortices, which hop over the edge barrier, or are created due to the unbinding of thermally activated vortex-antivortex pairs, provides a good description of the experiment [10]. This vortex-based mechanism was also shown to be the dominating origin for dark counts [11,12,14], which leads to decoherence in the photon detection process.To increase the efficiency of the photon counting, detectors are usually fabricated as a meandering superconducting wire [3]. However, these structures are vulnerable to edge imperfections [3], which significantly reduce the photon counting rate. Moreover, the critical current in these systems is mostly determined by sharp inner corners where the supercurrent density is maximal due to current crowding [15,16]. While the appearance of edge imperfections can be reduced by present day technology [3], the effect of current crowding in such meandering geometries still demands further investigations.In this work we therefore study the effect of the turns of a meandering s...

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An energy-resolving superconducting nanowire photon counter

Cited by 38 publications

References 18 publications

Current dependence of the hot-spot response spectrum of superconducting single-photon detectors with different layouts

Current dependence of the hot-spot response spectrum of superconducting single-photon detectors with different layouts

Optical and transport properties of ultrathin NbN films and nanostructures

Spatially dependent sensitivity of superconducting meanders as single-photon detectors

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