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Ozhegov, R. V., Gorshkov, K. N., Vachtomin, Y. B., Smirnov, K. V., Finkel, M. I., Goltsman, G. N., et al. (2014). Terahertz imaging system based on superconducting heterodyne integrated receiver. In C. Corsi, & F. Sizov (Eds.), Proc. THz and Security Applications (pp. 113–125). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
Abstract: The development of terahertz imaging instruments for security systems is on the cutting edge of terahertz technology. We are developing a THz imaging system based on a superconducting integrated receiver (SIR). An SIR is a new type of heterodyne receiver based on an SIS mixer integrated with a flux-flow oscillator (FFO) and a harmonic mixer which is used for phase-locking the FFO. Employing an SIR in an imaging system means building an entirely new instrument with many advantages compared to traditional systems.
In this project we propose a prototype THz imaging system using an 1 pixel SIR and 2D scanner. At a local oscillator frequency of 500 GHz the best noise equivalent temperature difference (NETD) of the SIR is 10 mK at an integration time of 1 s and a detection bandwidth of 4 GHz. The scanner consists of two rotating flat mirrors placed in front of the antenna consisting of a spherical primary reflector and an aspherical secondary reflector. The diameter of the primary reflector is 0.3 m. The operating frequency of the imaging system is 600 GHz, the frame rate is 0.1 FPS, the scanning area is 0.5 × 0.5 m2, the image resolution is 50 × 50 pixels, the distance from an object to the scanner was 3 m. We have obtained THz images with a spatial resolution of 8 mm and a NETD of less than 2 K.
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Baksheeva, K., Ozhegov, R., Goltsman, G., Kinev, N., Koshelets, V., Kochnev, A., et al. (2021). The sub THz emission of the human body under physiological stress. IEEE Trans. Terahertz Sci. Technol., .
Abstract: We present evidence that in the sub-THz frequency band, human skin can be considered as an electromagnetic bio-metamaterial, in that its natural emission is a product of skin tissue geometry and embedded structures. Radiometry was performed on 32 human subjects from 480 to 700 GHz. Concurrently, the subjects were exposed to stress, while heart pulse rate (PS) and galvanic skin response (GSR) were also measured. The results are substantially different from the expected black body radiation signal of the skin surface. PS and GSR correlate to the emissivity. Using a simulation model for the skin, we find that the sweat duct is a critical element. The simulated frequency spectra qualitatively match the measured emission spectra and show that our sub-THz emission is modulated by our level of mental stress. This opens avenues for the remote monitoring of the human state.
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Sidorova, M., Semenov, A., Hübers, H. - W., Kuzmin, A., Doerner, S., Ilin, K., et al. (2018). Timing jitter in photon detection by straight superconducting nanowires: Effect of magnetic field and photon flux. Phys. Rev. B, 98(13), 134504 (1 to 14).
Abstract: We studied the effects of the external magnetic field and photon flux on timing jitter in photon detection by straight superconducting NbN nanowires. At two wavelengths 800 and 1560 nm, statistical distribution in the appearance times of photon counts exhibits Gaussian shape at small times and an exponential tail at large times. The characteristic exponential time is larger for photons with smaller energy and increases with external magnetic field while variations in the Gaussian part of the distribution are less pronounced. Increasing photon flux drives the nanowire from the discrete quantum detection regime to the uniform bolometric regime that averages out fluctuations of the total number of nonequilibrium electrons created by the photon and drastically reduces jitter. The difference between standard deviations of Gaussian parts of distributions for these two regimes provides the measure for the strength of electron-number fluctuations; it increases with the photon energy. We show that the two-dimensional hot-spot detection model explains qualitatively the effect of magnetic field.
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Schroeder, E., Mauskopf, P., Pilyavsky, G., Sinclair, A., Smith, N., Bryan, S., et al. (2016). On the measurement of intensity correlations from laboratory and astronomical sources with SPADs and SNSPDs. In F. Malbet, M. J. Creech-Eakman, & P. G. Tuthill (Eds.), Proc. SPIE (Vol. 9907, 99070P (1 to 13)). SPIE.
Abstract: We describe the performance of detector modules containing silicon single photon avalanche photodiodes (SPADs) and superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) to be used for intensity interferometry. The SPADs are mounted in fiber-coupled and free-space coupled packages. The SNSPDs are mounted in a small liquid helium cryostat coupled to single mode fiber optic cables which pass through a hermetic feed-through. The detectors are read out with microwave amplifiers and FPGA-based coincidence electronics. We present progress on measurements of intensity correlations from incoherent sources including gas-discharge lamps and stars with these detectors. From the measured laboratory performance of the correlation system, we estimate the sensitivity to intensity correlations from stars using commercial telescopes and larger existing research telescopes.
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Murphy, A., Semenov, A., Korneev, A., Korneeva, Y., Gol'tsman, G., & Bezryadin, A. (2015). Three temperature regimes in superconducting photon detectors: quantum, thermal and multiple phase-slips as generators of dark counts. Sci. Rep., 5, 10174 (1 to 10).
Abstract: We perform measurements of the switching current distributions of three w approximately 120 nm wide, 4 nm thick NbN superconducting strips which are used for single-photon detectors. These strips are much wider than the diameter of the vortex cores, so they are classified as quasi-two-dimensional (quasi-2D). We discover evidence of macroscopic quantum tunneling by observing the saturation of the standard deviation of the switching distributions at temperatures around 2 K. We analyze our results using the Kurkijarvi-Garg model and find that the escape temperature also saturates at low temperatures, confirming that at sufficiently low temperatures, macroscopic quantum tunneling is possible in quasi-2D strips and can contribute to dark counts observed in single photon detectors. At the highest temperatures the system enters a multiple phase-slip regime. In this range single phase-slips are unable to produce dark counts and the fluctuations in the switching current are reduced.
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