Florya, I. N., Korneeva, Y. P., Mikhailov, M. Y., Devizenko, A. Y., Korneev, A. A., & Goltsman, G. N. (2018). Photon counting statistics of superconducting single-photon detectors made of a three-layer WSi film. Low Temp. Phys., 44(3), 221–225.
Abstract: Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD) are used in quantum optics when record-breaking time resolution, high speed, and exceptionally low levels of dark counts (false readings) are required. Their detection efficiency is limited, however, by the absorption coefficient of the ultrathin superconducting film for the detected radiation. One possible way of increasing the detector absorption without limiting its broadband response is to make a detector in the form of several vertically stacked layers and connect them in parallel. For the first time we have studied single-photon detection in a multilayer structure consisting of three superconducting layers of amorphous tungsten silicide (WSi) separated by thin layers of amorphous silicon. Two operating modes of the detector are illustrated: an avalanche regime and an arm-trigger regime. A shift in these modes occurs at currents of ∼0.5–0.6 times the critical current of the detector.
This work was supported by technical task No. 88 for scientific research at the National Research University “Higher School of Economics,” Grant No. 14.V25.31.0007 from the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia, and the work of G. N. Goltsman was supported by task No. 3.7328.2017/VU of the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.
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Baeva, E., Sidorova, M., Korneev, A., & Goltsman, G. (2018). Precise measurement of the thermal conductivity of superconductor. In Proc. AIP Conf. (Vol. 1936, 020003 (1 to 4)).
Abstract: Measuring the thermal properties such as the heat capacity provide information about intrinsic mechanisms operated inside. In general, the ratio between electron and phonon specific heat Ce/Cp shows how the absorbed energy shared between electron and phonon subsystems. In this work we make estimations for amplitude-modulated absorption of THz radiation technique for investigation of the ratio Ce/Cp in superconducting Niobium Nitride (NbN) at T = Tc. Our results indicates that experimentally the frequency of modulation has to be extra large to extract the quantity. We perform a new technique allowed to work at low frequency with accurately measurement of absorbed power.
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Korneeva, Y. P., Vodolazov, D. Y., Semenov, A. V., Florya, I. N., Simonov, N., Baeva, E., et al. (2018). Optical single photon detection in micron-scaled NbN bridges. arXiv:1802.02881v1 [cond-mat.supr-con].
Abstract: We demonstrate experimentally that single photon detection can be achieved in micron-wide NbN bridges, with widths ranging from 0.53 μm to 5.15 μm and for photon-wavelengths from 408 nm to 1550 nm. The microbridges are biased with a dc current close to the experimental critical current, which is estimated to be about 50 % of the theoretically expected depairing current. These results offer an alternative to the standard superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs), based on nanometer scale nanowires implemented in a long meandering structure. The results are consistent with improved theoretical modelling based on the theory of non-equilibrium superconductivity including the vortex-assisted mechanism of initial dissipation.
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Sych, D., Shcherbatenko, M., Elezov, M., & Goltsman, G. N. (2018). Towards the improvement of the heterodyne receiver sensitivity beyond the quantum noise limit. In Proc. 29th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 245–247).
Abstract: Noise reduction in heterodyne receivers of the terahertz range is an important issue for astronomical applications. Quantum fluctuations, also known as shot noise, prohibit errorless measurements of the amplitude of electro-magnetic waves, and introduce the so-called standard quantum limit (SQL) on the minimum error of the heterodyne measurements. Nowadays, the sensitivity of modern heterodyne receivers approaches the SQL, and the growing demand for the improvement of measurement precision stimulates a number of both theoretical and experimental efforts to design novel measurement techniques aimed at overcoming the SQL. Here we demonstrate the first steps towards the practical implementation of a sub-SQL quantum receiver. As the principal resources, it requires a highly efficient single-photon counting detector and an interferometer-based scheme for mixing the signal with a low-power local oscillator. We describe the idea of such receiver and its main components.
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Korneeva, Y., Vodolazov, D., Florya, I., Manova, N., Smirnov, E., Korneev, A., et al. (2018). Single photon detection in micron scale NbN and α-MoSi superconducting strips. In EPJ Web Conf. (Vol. 190, 04010 (1 to 2)).
Abstract: We experimentally demonstrate the single photon detection in straight micrometer-wide NbN and α-MoSi bridges. Width of the bridges is 2 µm, while the wavelength of the photon changes from 408 to 1550 nm and critical current exceeds 50% of the depairing current. Obtained results offer the alternative route for design of detectors without resonator and meander structure and indirectly confirm vortex assisted mechanism of single photon detection.
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