Pernice, W., Schuck, C., Li, M., Goltsman, G. N., Sergienko, A. V., & Tang, H. X. (2011). High speed travelling wave single-photon detectors with near-unity quantum efficiency. arXiv, , 1–14.
Abstract: Ultrafast, high quantum efficiency single photon detectors are among the most sought-after elements in modern quantum optics and quantum communication. Close-to-unity photon detection efficiency is essential for scalable measurement-based quantum computation, quantum key distribution, and loophole-free Bell experiments. However, imperfect modal matching and finite photon absorption rates have usually limited the maximum attainable detection efficiency of single photon detectors. Here we demonstrate a superconducting nanowire detector atop nanophotonic waveguides and achieve single photon detection efficiency up to 94% at telecom wavelengths. Our detectors are fully embedded in a scalable, low loss silicon photonic circuit and provide ultrashort timing jitter of 18ps at multi-GHz detection rates. Exploiting this high temporal resolution we demonstrate ballistic photon transport in silicon ring resonators. The direct implementation of such a detector with high quantum efficiency, high detection speed and low jitter time on chip overcomes a major barrier in integrated quantum photonics.
|
Pernice, W. H. P., Schuck, C., Minaeva, O., Li, M., Goltsman, G. N., Sergienko, A. V., et al. (2012). High-speed and high-efficiency travelling wave single-photon detectors embedded in nanophotonic circuits. Nat. Commun., 3, 1325 (1 to 10).
Abstract: Ultrafast, high-efficiency single-photon detectors are among the most sought-after elements in modern quantum optics and quantum communication. However, imperfect modal matching and finite photon absorption rates have usually limited their maximum attainable detection efficiency. Here we demonstrate superconducting nanowire detectors atop nanophotonic waveguides, which enable a drastic increase of the absorption length for incoming photons. This allows us to achieve high on-chip single-photon detection efficiency up to 91% at telecom wavelengths, repeatable across several fabricated chips. We also observe remarkably low dark count rates without significant compromise of the on-chip detection efficiency. The detectors are fully embedded in scalable silicon photonic circuits and provide ultrashort timing jitter of 18 ps. Exploiting this high temporal resolution, we demonstrate ballistic photon transport in silicon ring resonators. Our direct implementation of a high-performance single-photon detector on chip overcomes a major barrier in integrated quantum photonics.
|
Pentin, I., Finkel, M., Maslennikov, S., Vakhtomin, Y., Smirnov, K., Kaurova, N., et al. (2017). Superconducting hot-electron-bolometer mixers for the mid-IR. Rus. J. Radio Electron., (10), http://jre.cplire.ru/jre/oct17/9/text.pdf.
Abstract: The work presents the result of development of the NbN superconducting hot-electron-bolometer (HEB) mixer. The sensitive element of the mixer is directly coupled to mid-IR radiation, and doesn’t have planar metallic antenna. Investigations of noise characteristics of NbN HEB mixer were performed at the frequency 28.4 THz (λ = 10.6 µm) by using gas-discharge CW CO2-laser without consideration of optical and electrical losses in the heterodyne receiver. The noise temperature of NbN HEB mixer with the size of the sensitive element 10 µm × 10 µm was 2320 K (~ 1.5hν/kB) at the heterodyne frequency of 28.4 THz. The noise temperature was determined by measuring the Y-factor taking into account the term which describes fluctuations of zero-point oscillations in accordance with the fluctuation-dissipation theorem of Calle-Welton. Isothermal method was used to estimate the absorbed heterodyne radiation power which was 9 µW at the optimal operating point for the minimum noise temperature of NbN HEB mixer.
|
Pentin, I., Vakhtomin, Y., Seleznev, V., & Smirnov, K. (2020). Hot electron energy relaxation time in vanadium nitride superconducting film structures under THz and IR radiation. Sci. Rep., 10(1), 16819.
Abstract: The paper presents the experimental results of studying the dynamics of electron energy relaxation in structures made of thin (d approximately 6 nm) disordered superconducting vanadium nitride (VN) films converted to a resistive state by high-frequency radiation and transport current. Under conditions of quasi-equilibrium superconductivity and temperature range close to critical (~ Tc), a direct measurement of the energy relaxation time of electrons by the beats method arising from two monochromatic sources with close frequencies radiation in sub-THz region (omega approximately 0.140 THz) and sources in the IR region (omega approximately 193 THz) was conducted. The measured time of energy relaxation of electrons in the studied VN structures upon heating of THz and IR radiation completely coincided and amounted to (2.6-2.7) ns. The studied response of VN structures to IR (omega approximately 193 THz) picosecond laser pulses also allowed us to estimate the energy relaxation time in VN structures, which was ~ 2.8 ns and is in good agreement with the result obtained by the mixing method. Also, we present the experimentally measured volt-watt responsivity (S~) within the frequency range omega approximately (0.3-6) THz VN HEB detector. The estimated values of noise equivalent power (NEP) for VN HEB and its minimum energy level (deltaE) reached NEP@1MHz approximately 6.3 x 10(-14) W/ radicalHz and deltaE approximately 8.1 x 10(-18) J, respectively.
|
Pentin, I. V., Smirnov, A. V., Ryabchun, S. A., Ozhegov, R. V., Gol’tsman, G. N., Vaks, V. L., et al. (2012). Semiconducting superlattice as a solid-state terahertz local oscillator for NbN hot-electron bolometer mixers. Tech. Phys., 57(7), 971–974.
Abstract: We present the results of our studies of the semiconducting superlattice (SSL) frequency multiplier and its application as part of the solid state local oscillator (LO) in the terahertz heterodyne receiver based on a NbN hot-electron bolometer (HEB) mixer. We show that the SSL output power level increases as the ambient temperature is lowered to 4.2 K, the standard HEB operation temperature.
|
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.
|
Peltonen, J. T., Astafiev, O. V., Korneeva, Y. P., Voronov, B. M., Korneev, A. A., Charaev, I. M., et al. (2013). Coherent flux tunneling through NbN nanowires. Phys. Rev. B, 88(22), 220506 (1 to 5).
Abstract: We demonstrate evidence of coherent magnetic flux tunneling through superconducting nanowires patterned in a thin highly disordered NbN film. The phenomenon is revealed as a superposition of flux states in a fully metallic superconducting loop with the nanowire acting as an effective tunnel barrier for the magnetic flux, and reproducibly observed in different wires. The flux superposition achieved in the fully metallic NbN rings proves the universality of the phenomenon previously reported for InOx. We perform microwave spectroscopy and study the tunneling amplitude as a function of the wire width, compare the experimental results with theories, and estimate the parameters for existing theoretical models.
|
|
Peltonen, J. T., Peng, Z. H., Korneeva, Y. P., Voronov, B. M., Korneev, A. A., Semenov, A. V., et al. (2016). Coherent dynamics and decoherence in a superconducting weak link. Physic. Rev. B,, 94, 180508.
|
Pearlman, A., Cross, A., Slysz, W., Zhang, J., Verevkin, A., Currie, M., et al. (2005). Gigahertz counting rates of NbN single-photon detectors for quantum communications. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 15(2), 579–582.
Abstract: We report on the GHz counting rate and jitter of our nanostructured superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs). The devices were patterned in 4-nm-thick and about 100-nm-wide NbN meander stripes and covered a 10-/spl mu/m/spl times/10-/spl mu/m area. We were able to count single photons at both the visible and infrared telecommunication wavelengths at rates of over 2 GHz with a timing jitter of below 18 ps. We also present the model for the origin of the SSPD switching dynamics and jitter, based on the time-delay effect in the phase-slip-center formation mechanism during the detector photoresponse process. With further improvements in our readout electronics, we expect that our SSPDs will reach counting rates of up to 10 GHz. An integrated quantum communications receiver based on two fiber-coupled SSPDs and operating at 1550-nm wavelength is also presented.
|
Palma, F., Teppe, F., Fatimy, A. E., Green, R., Xu, J., Vachontin, Y., et al. (2010). THz communication system based on a THz quantum cascade laser and a hot electron bolometer. In 35th Int. Conf. Infrared, Millimeter, and Terahertz Waves (11623798 (1 to 2)).
Abstract: We present the experimental study of the direct emission – detection system based on the THz Quantum Cascade Laser as a source and Hot Electron Bolometer (HEB) detector – in view of its application as an optical communication system. We show that the system can efficiently transmit the QCL Terahertz pulses. We estimate the maximal modulation speed of the system to be about several GHz and show that it is limited only by the QCL pulse power supply, detector amplifier and connection line/wires parameters.
|
