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Tretyakov, I., Ryabchun, S., Finkel, M., Maslennikov, S., Maslennikova, A., Kaurova, N., et al. (2011). Ultrawide noise bandwidth of NbN hot-electron bolometer mixers with in situ gold contacts. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 21(3), 620–623.
Abstract: We report a noise bandwidth of 7 GHz in the new generation of NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixers that are being developed for the space observatory Millimetron. The HEB receiver driven by a 2.5-THz local oscillator offered a noise temperature of 600 K in a 50-MHz final detection bandwidth. As the filter center frequency was swept this value remained nearly constant up to the cutoff frequency of the cryogenic amplifier at 7 GHz. We believe that such a low value of the noise temperature is due to reduced radio frequency (RF) loss at the interface between the superconducting film and the gold contacts. We have also performed gain bandwidth measurements at the superconducting transition on HEB mixers with various lengths and found them to be in excellent agreement with the results of the analytical and numerical models developed for the HEB mixer with both diffusion and phonon cooling of hot electrons.
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Steudle, G. A., Schietinger, S., Höckel, D., Dorenbos, S. N., Zwiller, V., & Benson, O. (2011). Quantum nature of light measured with a single detector. arXiv, , 7.
Abstract: We realized the most fundamental quantum optical experiment to prove the non-classical character of light: Only a single quantum emitter and a single superconducting nanowire detector were used. A particular appeal of our experiment is its elegance and simplicity. Yet its results unambiguously enforce a quantum theory for light. Previous experiments relied on more complex setups, such as the Hanbury-Brown-Twiss configuration, where a beam splitter directs light to two photodetectors, giving the false impression that the beam splitter is required. Our work results in a major simplification of the widely used photon-correlation techniques with applications ranging from quantum information processing to single-molecule detection.
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Ozhegov, R. V., Gorshkov, K. N., Gol'tsman, G. N., Kinev, N. V., & Koshelets, V. P. (2011). The stability of a terahertz receiver based on a superconducting integrated receiver. Supercond. Sci. Technol., 24(3), 035003.
Abstract: We present the results of stability testing of a terahertz radiometer based on a superconducting receiver with a SIS tunnel junction as the mixer and a flux-flow oscillator as the local oscillator. In the continuum mode, the receiver with a noise temperature of 95 K at 510 GHz measured over the intermediate frequency (IF) passband of 4-8 GHz offered a noise equivalent temperature difference of 10 ± 1 mK at an integration time of 1 s. We offer a method to significantly increase the integration time without the use of complex measurement equipment. The receiver observed a strong signal over a final detection bandwidth of 4 GHz and offered an Allan time of 5 s.
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Pentin, I. V., Smirnov, A. V., Ryabchun, S. A., Gol’tsman, G. N., Vaks, V. L., Pripolzin, S. I., et al. (2011). Heterodyne source of THz range based on semiconductor superlattice multiplier. In IRMMW-THz (pp. 1–2).
Abstract: We present the results of our studies of the possibility of developing a heterodyne receiver incorporating a hot-electron bolometer mixer as the detector and a semiconductor superlattice multiplier driven by a reference synthesizer as the local oscillator. We observe that such a local oscillator offers enough power in the terahertz range to pump the HEB into the operating state.
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Shangina, E. L., Smirnov, K. V., Morozov, D. V., Kovalyuk, V. V., Goltsman, G. N., Verevkin, A. A., et al. (2011). Concentration dependence of energy relaxation time in AlGaAs/GaAs heterojunctions: direct measurements. Semicond. Sci. Technol., 26(2), 025013.
Abstract: We present measurements of the energy relaxation time, τε, of electrons in a single heterojunction in a quasi-equilibrium state using microwave time-resolved spectroscopy at 4.2 K. We find the relaxation time has a power-law dependence on the carrier density of the two-dimensional electron gas, τε∝nγs with γ = 0.40 ± 0.02 for values of the carrier density, ns, from 1.6 × 1011 to 6.6 × 1011cm−2. The results are in good agreement with predictions taking into account the scattering of the carriers by both piezoelectric and deformation potential acoustic phonons. We compare these results with indirect measurements of the energy relaxation time from energy loss measurements involving Joule heating of the electron gas.
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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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Wiechers, C., Lydersen, L., Wittmann, C., Elser, D., Skaar, J., Marquardt, C., et al. (2011). After-gate attack on a quantum cryptosystem. New J. Phys., 13(1), 14.
Abstract: We present a method to control the detection events in quantum key distribution systems that use gated single-photon detectors. We employ bright pulses as faked states, timed to arrive at the avalanche photodiodes outside the activation time. The attack can remain unnoticed, since the faked states do not increase the error rate per se. This allows for an intercept-resend attack, where an eavesdropper transfers her detection events to the legitimate receiver without causing any errors. As a side effect, afterpulses, originating from accumulated charge carriers in the detectors, increase the error rate. We have experimentally tested detectors of the system id3110 (Clavis2) from ID Quantique. We identify the parameter regime in which the attack is feasible despite the side effect. Furthermore, we outline how simple modifications in the implementation can make the device immune to this attack.
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Miller, A. J., Lita, A. E., Calkins, B., Vayshenker, I., Gruber, S. M., & Nam, S. W. (2011). Compact cryogenic self-aligning fiber-to-detector coupling with losses below one percent. Opt. Express, 19(10), 9102–9110.
Abstract: We present a compact packaging technique for coupling light from a single-mode telecommunication fiber to cryogenic single-photon sensitive devices. Our single-photon detectors are superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) with a collection area only a factor of a few larger than the area of the fiber core which presents significant challenges to low-loss fiber-to-detector coupling. The coupling method presented here has low loss, cryogenic compatibility, easy and reproducible assembly and low component cost. The system efficiency of the packaged single-photon counting detectors is verified by the “triplet method†of power-source calibration along with the “multiple attenuator†method that produces a calibrated single-photon flux. These calibration techniques, when used in combination with through-wafer imaging and fiber back-reflection measurements, give us confidence that we have achieved coupling losses below 1 % for all devices packaged according to the self-alignment method presented in this paper.
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Korneeva, Y., Florya, I., Semenov, A., Korneev, A., & Goltsman, G. (2011). New generation of nanowire NbN superconducting single-photon detector for mid-infrared. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 21(3), 323–326.
Abstract: We present a break-through approach to mid-infrared single-photon detection based on nanowire NbN superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPD). Although SSPD became a mature technology for telecom wavelengths (1.3-1.55 μm) its further expansion to mid-infrared wavelength was hampered by low sensitivity above 2 μm. We managed to overcome this limit by reducing the nanowire width to 50 nm, while retaining high superconducting properties and connecting the wires in parallel to produce a voltage response of sufficient magnitude. The new device exhibits 10 times better quantum efficiency at 3.5 μm wavelength than the “standard” SSPD.
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Arcizet, O., Jacques, V., Siria, A., Poncharal, P., Vincent, P., & Seidelin, S. (2011). A single nitrogen-vacancy defect coupled to a nanomechanical oscillator. Nat. Phys., 7(11), 879–883.
Abstract: We position a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centre hosted in a diamond nanocrystal at the extremity of a SiC nanowire. This novel hybrid system couples the degrees of freedom of two radically different systems: a nanomechanical oscillator and a single quantum object. We probe the dynamics of the nano-resonator through time-resolved nanocrystal fluorescence and photon-correlation measurements, conveying the influence of a mechanical degree of freedom on a non-classical photon emitter. Moreover, by immersing the system in a strong magnetic field gradient, we induce a magnetic coupling between the nanomechanical oscillator and the NV electronic spin, providing nanomotion readout through a single electronic spin. Spin-dependent forces inherent to this coupling scheme are essential in a variety of active cooling and entanglement protocols used in atomic physics, and should now be within the reach of nanomechanical hybrid systems.
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