Okunev, O., Smirnov, K., Chulkova, G., Korneev, A., Lipatov, A., Gol'tsman, G., et al. (2002). Ultrafast NBN hot-electron single-photon detectors for electronic applications. In Abstracts 8-th IUMRS-ICEM.
Abstract: We present a new, simple to manufacture, single-photon detector (SPD), which can work from ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths of optical radiation and combines high speed of operation, high quantum efficiency (QE), and very low dark counts. The devices are superconducting and operate at temperature below 5 K. The physics of operation of our SPD is based on formation of a photon-induced resistive hotspot and subsequent appearance of a transient resistive barrier across an ultrathin and submicron-wide superconductor.
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Marksteiner, M., Divochiy, A., Sclafani, M., Haslinger, P., Ulbricht, H., Korneev, A., et al. (2009). A superconducting NbN detector for neutral nanoparticles. Nanotechnol., 20(45), 455501.
Abstract: We present a proof-of-principle study of superconducting single photon detectors (SSPD) for the detection of individual neutral molecules/nanoparticles at low energies. The new detector is applied to characterize a laser desorption source for biomolecules and allows retrieval of the arrival time distribution of a pulsed molecular beam containing the amino acid tryptophan, the polypeptide gramicidin as well as insulin, myoglobin and hemoglobin. We discuss the experimental evidence that the detector is actually sensitive to isolated neutral particles.
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Polyakova, M., Semenov, A. V., Kovalyuk, V., Ferrari, S., Pernice, W. H. P., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (2019). Protocol of measuring hot-spot correlation length for SNSPDs with near-unity detection efficiency. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 29(5), 1–5.
Abstract: We present a simple quantum detector tomography protocol, which allows, without ambiguities, to measure the two-spot detection efficiency and extract the hot-spot interaction length of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) with unity intrinsic detection efficiency. We identify a significant parasitic contribution to the measured two-spot efficiency, related to an effect of the bias circuit, and find a way to rule out this contribution during data post-processing and directly in the experiment. From the data analysis for waveguide-integrated SNSPD, we find signatures of the saturation of the two-spot efficiency and hot-spot interaction length of order of 100 nm.
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Lobanov, Y., Tong, E., Blundell, R., Hedden, A., Voronov, B., & Gol'tsman, G. (2011). Large-signal frequency response of an HEB mixer: from 300 MHz to terahertz. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 21(3), 628–631.
Abstract: We present a study of the large signal frequency response of an HEB mixer over a wide frequency range. In our experiments, we have subjected the HEB mixer to incident electromagnetic radiation from 0.3 GHz to 1 THz. The mixer element is an NbN film deposited on crystalline quartz. The mixer chip is mounted in a waveguide cavity, coupled to free space with a diagonal horn. At microwave frequencies, electromagnetic radiation is applied through the coaxial bias port of the mixer block. At higher frequencies the input signal passes via the diagonal horn feed. At each frequency, the incident power is varied and a family of I-V curves is recorded. From the curves we identify 3 distinct regimes of operation of the mixer separated by the phonon relaxation frequency and the superconducting energy gap frequency observed at about 3 GHz and 660 GHz respectively. In this paper, we will present observed curves and discuss the results of our experiment.
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Semenov, A. D., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (1999). Non-thermal response of a diffusion-cooled hot-electron bolometer. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 9(2), 4491–4494.
Abstract: We present an analysis of a diffusion-cooled hot-electron bolometer in the limiting case of a weak thermalization of non-equilibrium quasiparticles. We propose a new model relying on the non-thermal suppression of the superconducting energy gap by excess quasiparticles. Using material parameters typical for Al, we evaluate performance of the bolometer in the heterodyne regime at terahertz frequencies. Estimates show that the mixer may have quantum limited noise temperature and a few tens of GHz bandwidth, while the required local oscillator power is in the /spl mu/W range due to in-effective suppression of the energy gap by quasiparticles with high energies.
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Cherednichenko, S., Rönnung, F., Gol'tsman, G., Kollberg, E., & Winkler, D. (2000). YBa2Cu3O7−δ hot-electron bolometer mixer. Phys. C: Supercond., 341-348, 2653–2654.
Abstract: We present an investigation of hot-electron bolometric mixer based on YBa2Cu3O7−δ (YBCO) superconducting thin film. Mixer conversion loss, absorbed local oscillator power and intermediate frequency bandwidth was measured at the local oscillator frequency 600 GHz. The fabrication technique for nanoscale YBCO hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer integrated into planar antenna structure is described.
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Smirnov, A. V., Baryshev, A. M., de Bernardis, P., Vdovin, V. F., Gol'tsman, G. N., Kardashev, N. S., et al. (2012). The current stage of development of the receiving complex of the millimetron space observatory. Radiophys. Quant. Electron., 54(8), 557–568.
Abstract: We present an overview of the state of the onboard receiving complex of the Millimetron space observatory in the development phase of its preliminary design. The basic parameters of the onboard equipment planned to create and required for astrophysical observations are considered. A review of coherent and incoherent detectors, which are central to each receiver of the observatory, is given. Their characteristics and limiting parameters feasible at the present level of technology are reported.
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Gol'tsman, G., Minaeva, O., Korneev, A., Tarkhov, M., Rubtsova, I., Divochiy, A., et al. (2007). Middle-infrared to visible-light ultrafast superconducting single-photon detectors. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 17(2), 246–251.
Abstract: We present an overview of the state-of-the-art of NbN superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs). Our devices exhibit quantum efficiency (QE) of up to 30% in near-infrared wavelength and 0.4% at 5 mum, with a dark-count rate that can be as low as 10 -4 s -1 . The SSPD structures integrated with lambda/4 microcavities achieve a QE of 60% at telecommunication, 1550-nm wavelength. We have also developed a new generation of SSPDs that possess the QE of large-active-area devices, but, simultaneously, are characterized by low kinetic inductance that allows achieving short response times and the GHz-counting rate with picosecond timing jitter. The improvements presented in the SSPD development, such as fiber-coupled SSPDs, make our detectors most attractive for high-speed quantum communications and quantum computing.
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Kawamura, J., Blundell, R., Tong, C. - Y. E., Gol'tsman, G., Gershenzon, E., & Voronov, B. (1995). NbN hot-electron mixer measurements at 200 GHz. In Proc. 6th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 254–261).
Abstract: We present noise and gain measurements of resistively driven NbN hot-electron mixers near 200 GHz. The device geometry is chosen so that the dominant cooling process of the hot-electrons is their interaction with the lattice. Except for a single batch, the intermediate frequency cut-off of these mixer elements is – 3 700 MHz, and has shown little variation among other batches of devices. At 100 MHz we measured intrinsic mixer losses as low as —3 dB. We measured the noise temperatures at several intermediate frequencies, and for the best de- vice at 137 MHz with 20 MHz bandwidth, we measured 2000 K; using a low-noise first- stage amplifier at 1.5 GHz with 200 MHz bandwidth, the receiver noise temperature measured 2800 K. We estimate that the noise contribution from the mixer is 500 K and the total losses are —15 dB at 137 MHz.
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Słysz, W., Węgrzecki, M., Bar, J., Grabiec, P., Gol'tsman, G. N., Verevkin, A., et al. (2005). NbN superconducting single-photon detector coupled with a communication fiber. Elektronika : konstrukcje, technologie, zastosowania, 46(6), 51–52.
Abstract: We present novel superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs), based on ultrathin NbN films, designed for fiber-based quantum communications (lambda = 1.3 žm and 1.55 žm). For fiber-based operation, our SSPDs contain a special micromechanical construction integrated with the NbN structure, which enables efficient and mechanically very stabile fiber coupling. The detectors combine GHz counting rate, high quantum efficiency and very low level of dark counts. At 1.3 – 1.55 žm wavelength range our detector exhibits a quantum efficiency up to 10%.
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Korneev, A., Divochiy, A., Tarkhov, M., Minaeva, O., Seleznev, V., Kaurova, N., et al. (2008). New advanced generation of superconducting NbN-nanowire single-photon detectors capable of photon number resolving. In J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. (Vol. 97, 012307 (1 to 6)).
Abstract: We present our latest generation of ultrafast superconducting NbN single-photon detectors (SSPD) capable of photon-number resolving (PNR). We have developed, fabricated and tested a multi-sectional design of NbN nanowire structures. The novel SSPD structures consist of several meander sections connected in parallel, each having a resistor connected in series. The novel SSPDs combine 10 μm × 10 μm active areas with a low kinetic inductance and PNR capability. That resulted in a significantly reduced photoresponse pulse duration, allowing for GHz counting rates. The detector's response magnitude is directly proportional to the number of incident photons, which makes this feature easy to use. We present experimental data on the performances of the PNR SSPDs. The PNR SSPDs are perfectly suited for fibreless free-space telecommunications, as well as for ultrafast quantum cryptography and quantum computing.
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Gol'tsman, G. N., Korneev, A., Rubtsova, I., Milostnaya, I., Chulkova, G., Minaeva, O., et al. (2005). Ultrafast superconducting single-photon detectors for near-infrared-wavelength quantum communications. Phys. Stat. Sol. (C), 2(5), 1480–1488.
Abstract: We present our progress on the research and development of NbN superconducting single‐photon detectors (SSPD's) for ultrafast counting of near‐infrared photons for secure quantum communications. Our SSPD's operate in the quantum detection mode based on the photon‐induced hotspot formation and subsequent development of a transient resistive barrier across an ultrathin and submicron‐width superconducting stripe. The devices are fabricated from 4‐nm‐thick NbN films and kept in the 4.2‐ to 2‐K temperature range. The detector experimental quantum efficiency in the photon‐counting mode reaches above 40% for the visible light and up to 30% in the 1.3‐ to 1.55‐µm wavelength range with dark counts below 0.01 per second. The experimental real‐time counting rate is above 2 GHz and is limited by our readout electronics. The SSPD's timing jitter is below 18 ps, and the best‐measured value of the noise‐equivalent power (NEP) is 5 × 10–21 W/Hz1/2 at 1.3 µm. In terms of quantum efficiency, timing jitter, and maximum counting rate, our NbN SSPD's significantly outperform semiconductor avalanche photodiodes and photomultipliers in the 1.3‐ to 1.55‐µm range.
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Verevkin, A., Zhang, J., Pearlman, A., Slysz, W., Sobolewski, R., Korneev, A., et al. (2004). Ultimate sensitivity of superconducting single-photon detectors in the visible to infrared range.
Abstract: We present our quantum efficiency (QE) and noise equivalent power (NEP) measurements of the meandertype ultrathin NbN superconducting single-photon detector in the visible to infrared radiation range. The nanostructured devices with 3.5-nm film thickness demonstrate QE up to~ 10% at 1.3–1.55 µm wavelength, and up to 20% in the entire visible range. The detectors are sensitive to infrared radiation with the wavelengths down to~ 10 µm. NEP of about 2× 10-18 W/Hz1/2 was obtained at 1.3 µm wavelength. Such high sensitivity together with GHz-range counting speed, make NbN photon counters very promising for efficient, ultrafast quantum communications and another applications. We discuss the origin of dark counts in our devices and their ultimate sensitivity in terms of the resistive fluctuations in our superconducting nanostructured devices.
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Kitaygorsky, J., Komissarov, I., Jukna, A., Pan, D., Minaeva, O., Kaurova, N., et al. (2007). Dark counts in nanostructured nbn superconducting single-photon detectors and bridges. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 17(2), 275–278.
Abstract: We present our studies on dark counts, observed as transient voltage pulses, in current-biased NbN superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs), as well as in ultrathin (~4 nm), submicrometer-width (100 to 500 nm) NbN nanobridges. The duration of these spontaneous voltage pulses varied from 250 ps to 5 ns, depending on the device geometry, with the longest pulses observed in the large kinetic-inductance SSPD structures. Dark counts were measured while the devices were completely isolated (shielded by a metallic enclosure) from the outside world, in a temperature range between 1.5 and 6 K. Evidence shows that in our two-dimensional structures the dark counts are due to the depairing of vortex-antivortex pairs caused by the applied bias current. Our results shed some light on the vortex dynamics in 2D superconductors and, from the applied point of view, on intrinsic performance of nanostructured SSPDs.
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Kitaygorsky, J., Zhang, J., Verevkin, A., Sergeev, A., Korneev, A., Matvienko, V., et al. (2005). Origin of dark counts in nanostructured NbN single-photon detectors. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 15(2), 545–548.
Abstract: We present our study of dark counts in ultrathin (3.5 to 10 nm thick), narrow (120 to 170 nm wide) NbN superconducting stripes of different lengths. In experiments, where the stripe was completely isolated from the outside world and kept at temperature below the critical temperature Tc, we detected subnanosecond electrical pulses associated with the spontaneous appearance of the temporal resistive state. The resistive state manifested itself as generation of phase-slip centers (PSCs) in our two-dimensional superconducting stripes. Our analysis shows that not far from Tc, PSCs have a thermally activated nature. At lowest temperatures, far below Tc, they are created by quantum fluctuations.
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