Microwave Radiation Detection with an Ultrathin Free-Standing Superconducting Niobium Nanohelix

Abstract

We present a superconducting bolometer fabricated by a rolled-up technology that allows one to combine the two-dimensionality (2D) of the superconducting layer with a helical spiral curvature. The bolometer is formed as a free-standing Nb nanohelix acting as an ultrathin transition-edge sensor (TES) and having a negligible thermal contact to the substrate. We demonstrate the functionality of the thin-film TES by examining its microwave-detection performance in comparison with a commercial cryogenic bolometer from QMC Instruments. The nanohelix has been revealed to feature a noise equivalent power (NEP) of about 2 × 10–10 W Hz–1/2 at a microwave radiation power of 9 W m–2, which is 4 orders of magnitude smaller than the NEP of the QMC sensor at a similar radiation power. Furthermore, the forecast for the nanohelix is a 1 to 2 orders of magnitude shorter response time as compared to sensors based on commonly used 1 μm thick Si3N4 membranes. The reason is the extremely low heat capacity of the 50 nm thick supporting material and the few contact points between the TES and the substrate. Our findings indicate that microwave radiation detection can be substantially improved by extending 2D superconducting structures into the 3D space.

Gate Control of Superconductivity in Mesoscopic All-Metallic Devices

“…From a technological point of view, the unconventional field effect promises to be suitable for a wide range of applications. We already demonstrated that the rectification properties of a Dayem bridge system and more complex devices such as gatecontrolled radiation detector [65][66][67], signal routers, and computational systems [25,68] are within reach. Moreover, the superconducting gate-controlled transistors are suitable for high-current application thanks to the highly isolated gate, which is a fundamental requirement for high-power applications such as for power metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) and insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs).…”

New Dimension in Magnetism and Superconductivity: 3D and Curvilinear Nanoarchitectures

“…The influence of the terms in Equation ( 26) is determined by the geometrical class of the surface (e.g., developable with one of the principal curvatures being trivial, or minimal with zero mean curvature) and symmetry of the magnetic texture. The terms (29) and (30) with the geometrically driven symmetry break in the magnetostatic energy lead to the static and dynamic nonlocal magnetochiral effects. [61,136,173,174] Developable surfaces include the family of circular and elliptic cylinders with κ 1 = 0 and κ 2 ≠ 0.…”

“…Among curvilinear superconductors, the most extensively studied systems are represented by thin-walled cylinders. [28,62,63,649,650,[656][657][658][659][660][661][662][663][664][665][666][667][668][669] There are a few works addressing helices [29,30,677,678] and Möbius strips [691][692][693][694][695] while an extensive series of theoretical works is concerned with spherical shells. [10,[679][680][681][682][683][684][685][686][687]690,[696][697][698][699][700] • Curvilinear superconducting tapes: From an application point of view, great attention has been devoted to curvilinear superconducting tapes.…”

“…[19][20][21][22] With the development of novel fabrication techniques allowing to realize complex 3D architectures, not only the boundary effects but also the extrinsic geometrical properties (e.g., local curvatures) can be addressed rigorously for the case of ferromagnets [23][24][25][26][27] as well as superconductors. [28][29][30] The explored effects are directly related to the interplay between the Traditionally, the primary field, where curvature has been at the heart of research, is the theory of general relativity. In recent studies, however, the impact of curvilinear geometry enters various disciplines, ranging from solid-state physics over soft-matter physics, chemistry, and biology to mathematics, giving rise to a plethora of emerging domains such as curvilinear nematics, curvilinear studies of cell biology, curvilinear semiconductors, superfluidity, optics, 2D van der Waals materials, plasmonics, magnetism, and superconductivity.…”

Topological transitions in superconductor nanomembranes under a strong transport current

“…In novel superconductor nanostructured microarchitectures, e.g., open nanotubes 21,22 and nanocoils [23][24][25] in a magnetic field orthogonal to their axes, distribution of the order parameter over the surface is highly inhomogeneous. This opens up new possibilities for manifestations of phase slips as compared to quasi-1D filaments and quasi-2D stripes.…”