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Author Bulaevskii, L. N.; Graf, Matthias J.; Kogan, V. G.
Title Vortex-assisted photon counts and their magnetic field dependence in single-photon superconducting detectors Type Journal Article
Year 2012 Publication Phys. Rev. B Abbreviated Journal Phys. Rev. B
Volume 85 Issue 1 Pages 9
Keywords SSPD; SNSPD; single-vortex crossing; normal-state belt
Abstract We argue that photon counts in a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) are caused by the transition from a current-biased metastable superconducting state to the normal state. Such a transition is triggered by vortices crossing the thin and narrow superconducting strip from one edge to another due to the Lorentz force. Detector counts in SNSPDs may be caused by three processes: (a) a single incident photon with sufficient energy to break enough Cooper pairs to create a normal-state belt across the entire width of the strip (direct photon count), (b) thermally induced single-vortex crossing in the absence of photons (dark count), which at high-bias currents releases the energy sufficient to trigger the transition to the normal state in a belt across the whole width of the strip, and (c) a single incident photon of insufficient energy to create a normal-state belt but initiating a subsequent single-vortex crossing, which provides the rest of the energy needed to create the normal-state belt (vortex-assisted single-photon count). We derive the current dependence of the rate of vortex-assisted photon counts. The resulting photon count rate has a plateau at high currents close to the critical current and drops as a power law with high exponent at lower currents. While the magnetic field perpendicular to the film plane does not affect the formation of hot spots by photons, it causes the rate of vortex crossings (with or without photons) to increase. We show that by applying a magnetic field one may characterize the energy barrier for vortex crossings and identify the origin of dark counts and vortex-assisted photon counts.
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Call Number RPLAB @ gujma @ Serial 733
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Author Henrich, D.; Dorner,S.; Hofherr, M.; Il'in, K.; Semenov, A.; Heintze, E.; Scheffler, M.; Dressel, M.; Siegel, M.
Title Broadening of hot-spot response spectrum of superconducting NbN nanowire single-photon detector with reduced nitrogen content Type Journal Article
Year 2012 Publication Abbreviated Journal J. Appl. Phys.
Volume 112 Issue Pages
Keywords SSPD, SNSPD, magnetron sputtering, spectrum, NbN film, nitrogen concentration
Abstract The spectral detection efficiency and the dark count rate of superconducting nanowire

single-photon detectors (SNSPD) have been studied systematically on detectors made from thin

NbN films with different chemical compositions. Reduction of the nitrogen content in the 4 nm

thick NbN films results in a decrease of the dark count rates more than two orders of magnitude

and in a red shift of the cut-off wavelength of the hot-spot SNSPD response. The observed

phenomena are explained by an improvement of uniformity of NbN films that has been confirmed

by a decrease of resistivity and an increase of the ratio of the measured critical current to the

depairing current. The latter factor is considered as the most crucial for both the cut-off

wavelength and the dark count rates of SNSPD. Based on our results we propose a set of criteria

for material properties to optimize SNSPD in the infrared spectral region. VC 2012 American

Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4757625]
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Corporate Author D. Henrich, S. Dorner, M. Hofherr, K. Il'in, A. Semenov, E. Heintze, M. Scheffler, M. Dressel, M. Siegel Thesis
Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language English Summary Language Original Title Broadening of hot-spot response spectrum of superconducting NbN nanowire single-photon detector with reduced nitrogen content
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
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Notes Approved no
Call Number RPLAB @ seleznev @ Serial 877
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Author Inderbitzin, K.; Engel, A.; Schilling, A.; Il'in, K.; Siegel, M.
Title An ultra-fast superconducting Nb nanowire single-photon detector for soft x-rays Type Journal Article
Year 2012 Publication Abbreviated Journal Appl. Phys. Lett.
Volume 101 Issue Pages
Keywords SSPD, SNSPD, x-ray, Nb
Abstract Although superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are well studied regarding the

detection of infrared/optical photons and keV-molecules, no studies on continuous x-ray photon

counting by thick-film detectors have been reported so far. We fabricated a 100 nm thick niobium

x-ray SNSPD (an X-SNSPD) and studied its detection capability of photons with keV-energies in

continuous mode. The detector is capable to detect photons even at reduced bias currents of 0.4%,

which is in sharp contrast to optical thin-film SNSPDs. No dark counts were recorded in extended

measurement periods. Strikingly, the signal amplitude distribution depends significantly on the photon

energy spectrum.VC
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Call Number RPLAB @ seleznev @ Serial 878
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Author Lusche, Robert; Semenov, Alexey; Huebers, Heinz-Willhelm; Ilin, Konstantin; Siegel, Michael; Korneeva, Yuliya; Trifonov, Andrey; Korneev, Alexander; Goltsman, Gregory
Title Effect of the wire geometry and an externally applied magnetic field on the detection efficiency of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors Type Abstract
Year 2013 Publication INIS Abbreviated Journal INIS
Volume 46 Issue 8 Pages 1-3
Keywords TaN, NbN SSPD, SNSPD
Abstract The interest in single-photon detectors in the near-infrared wavelength regime for applications, e.g. in quantum cryptography has immensely increased in the last years. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD) already show quite reasonable detection efficiencies in the NIR which can even be further improved. Novel theoretical approaches including vortex-assisted photon counting state that the detection efficiency in the long wavelength region can be enhanced by the detector geometry and an applied magnetic field. We present spectral measurements in the wavelength range from 350-2500 nm of the detection efficiency of meander-type TaN and NbN SNSPD with varying nanowire line width from 80 to 250 nm. Due to the used experimental setup we can accurately normalize the measured spectra and are able to extract the intrinsic detection efficiency (IDE) of our detectors. The results clearly indicate an improvement of the IDE depending on the wire width according to the theoretic models. Furthermore we experimentally found that the smallest detectable photon-flux can be increased by applying a small magnetic field to the detectors.
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Call Number Serial 1374
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Author Verevkin, A.; Zhang, J.; Slysz, W.; Sobolewski, Roman; Lipatov, A.; Okunev, O.; Chulkova, G.; Korneev, A.; Smimov, K.; Gol'tsman, G. N.
Title Spectral sensitivity and temporal resolution of NbN superconducting single-photon detectors Type Conference Article
Year 2002 Publication Proc. 13th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. Abbreviated Journal Proc. 13th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol.
Volume Issue Pages 105-111
Keywords NbN SSPD, SNSPD
Abstract We report our studies on spectral sensitivity and time resolution of superconducting NbN thin film single-photon detectors (SPDs). Our SPDs exhibit an everimentally measured detection efficiencies (DE) from — 0.2% at 2=1550 nm up to —3% at lambda=405 nm wavelength for 10-nm film thickness devices and up to 3.5% at lambda=1550 nm for 3.5-nm film thickness devices. Spectral dependences of detection efficiency (DE) at 2=0.4 —3.0 pm range are presented. With variable optical delay setup, it is shown that NbN SPD potentially can resolve optical pulses with the repetition rate up to 10 GHz at least. The observed full width at the half maximum (FWHM) of the signal pulse is about 150-180 ps, limited by read-out electronics. The jitter of NbN SPD is measured to be —35 ps at optimum biasing.
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1528
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