Abstract: We have studied the influence of an externally applied magnetic field on the photon and dark count rates of meander-type niobium nitride superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. Measurements have been performed at a temperature of 4.2 K, and magnetic fields up to 250 mT have been applied perpendicularly to the meander plane. While photon count rates are field independent at weak applied fields, they show a strong dependence at fields starting from approximately ±25 mT. This behavior, as well as the magnetic field dependence of the dark count rates, is in good agreement with the recent theoretical model of vortex-assisted photon detection and spontaneous vortex crossing in narrow superconducting lines. However, the local reduction of the superconducting free energy due to photon absorption, which is the fitting parameter in the model, increases much slower with the photon energy than the model predicts. Furthermore, changes in the free-energy during photon counts and dark counts depend differently on the current that flows through the meander. This indicates that photon counts and dark counts occur in different parts of the meander.

Abstract: Transition from microwave enhancement of supercurrent to superconductivity suppression is investigated in impure superconductors. It is demonstrated that frequency range of enhancement effect narrows with the decrease of electron mean free path, ℓ, and at ℓ⩽1nm electron heating is observed in the whole frequency range. Dependences of frequency boundaries on ℓ are explained by taking into account strong electron-electron interaction in impure metals.

Abstract: We have observed fluctuations, manifested as sub-nanosecond to nanosecond transient, millivolt-amplitude voltage pulses, generated in two-dimensional NbN nanobridges, as well as in extended superconducting meander nanostructures, designed for single photon counting. Both nanobridges and nano-stripe meanders were biased at currents close to the critical current and measured in a range of temperatures from 1.5 to 8 K. During the tests, the devices were blocked from all incoming radiation by a metallic enclosure and shielded from any external magnetic fields. We attribute the observed spontaneous voltage pulses to the Kosterlitz-Thouless-type fluctuations, where the high enough applied bias current reduces the binding energy of vortex-antivortex pairs and, subsequently, thermal fluctuations break them apart causing the order parameter to momentarily reduce to zero, which in turn causes a transient voltage pulse. The duration of the voltage pulses depended on the device geometry (with the high-kinetic inductance meander structures having longer, nanosecond, pulses) while their rate was directly related to the biasing current as well as temperature.

Abstract: THE 25th International Symposium on Space Terahertz Technology (ISSTT) was held in Moscow, Russia, between April 27–30, 2014. The conference was organized by Moscow State Pedagogical University and the Higher School of Economics (National Research University) and Chaired by Professor Gregory Gol'tsman of Moscow State Pedagogical University. The conference was attended by roughly 150 participants from 15 countries. The technology covered by ISSTT includes detectors, devices, circuits and systems in various areas of THz science and technology. Each year this symposium brings together the global THz space science technology community, and as such, emphasizes the broad international collaboration that is required to execute these large complicated instrument programs that dominate this field. However, talks covering technologies for balloon, aircraft, and ground-based telescopes were also presented.
In this special section of IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, we include eight expanded papers from the 25th ISSTT symposium. The papers range from development of SIS mixers to optical adjustment systems for radio telescopes. The 26th ISSTT will be held in Boston, MA, USA, during March 16–18, 2015. Researchers and scientist involved in THz research are invited to attend this symposium (more details are at http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/events/2015/isstt2015/).
You can access the full list of papers presented at the ISSTT symposia from the National Radio Astronomy Observatory website: http://www.nrao.edu/meetings/isstt/index.shtml
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Abstract: Picosecond nonequilibrium and slow bolometric responses to infrared radiation from a patterned high-T c superconducting (HTS) film in resistive and normal states deposited onto LaAlO3, NdGaO3, and MgO substrates were investigated using both pulse and modulation techniques. The response time of 35 ps to a laser pulse of 17 ps FWHM has been observed. The intrinsic response time of the fast process is expected to be about a few picoseconds. The modulation technique, being free from the disadvantages of pulse methods (poor sensitivity, limited dynamic range), makes the detailed study of a number of relaxation processes possible. Besides the nonequilibrium response, two kinds of bolometric processes, namely phonon transport through the film-substrate interface and phonon thermal diffusion in a substrate, manifest themselves in certain frequency dependences.