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Author Sobolewski, R.; Verevkin, A.; Gol'tsman, G.N.; Lipatov, A.; Wilsher, K.
Title (up) Ultrafast superconducting single-photon optical detectors and their applications Type Journal Article
Year 2003 Publication IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. Abbreviated Journal
Volume 13 Issue 2 Pages 1151-1157
Keywords NbN SSPD, SNSPD
Abstract We present a new class of ultrafast single-photon detectors for counting both visible and infrared photons. The detection mechanism is based on photon-induced hotspot formation, which forces the supercurrent redistribution and leads to the appearance of a transient resistive barrier across an ultrathin, submicrometer-width, superconducting stripe. The devices were fabricated from 3.5-nm- and 10-nm-thick NbN films, patterned into <200-nm-wide stripes in the 4 /spl times/ 4-/spl mu/m/sup 2/ or 10 /spl times/ 10-/spl mu/m/sup 2/ meander-type geometry, and operated at 4.2 K, well below the NbN critical temperature (T/sub c/=10-11 K). Continuous-wave and pulsed-laser optical sources in the 400-nm-to 3500-nm-wavelength range were used to determine the detector performance in the photon-counting mode. Experimental quantum efficiency was found to exponentially depend on the photon wavelength, and for our best, 3.5-nm-thick, 100-/spl mu/m/sup 2/-area devices varied from >10% for 405-nm radiation to 3.5% for 1550-nm photons. The detector response time and jitter were /spl sim/100 ps and 35 ps, respectively, and were acquisition system limited. The dark counts were below 0.01 per second at optimal biasing. In terms of the counting rate, jitter, and dark counts, the NbN single-photon detectors significantly outperform their semiconductor counterparts. Already-identified applications for our devices range from noncontact testing of semiconductor CMOS VLSI circuits to free-space quantum cryptography and communications.
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Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1051-8223 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 509
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Author Shcheslavskiy, V.; Morozov, P.; Divochiy, A.; Vakhtomin, Yu.; Smirnov, K.; Becker, W.
Title (up) Ultrafast time measurements by time-correlated single photon counting coupled with superconducting single photon detector Type Journal Article
Year 2016 Publication Rev. Sci. Instrum. Abbreviated Journal
Volume 87 Issue Pages 053117 (1 to 5)
Keywords SSPD, SNSPD, TCSPC, jitter
Abstract Time resolution is one of the main characteristics of the single photon detectors besides quantum efficiency and dark count rate. We demonstrate here an ultrafast time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) setup consisting of a newly developed single photon counting board SPC-150NX and a superconducting NbN single photon detector with a sensitive area of 7 × 7 μm. The combination delivers a record instrument response function with a full width at half maximum of 17.8 ps and system quantum efficiency ~5% at wavelength of 1560 nm. A calculation of the root mean square value of the timing jitter for channels with counts more than 1% of the peak value yielded about 7.6 ps. The setup has also good timing stability of the detector–TCSPC board.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
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Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1077
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Author Smirnov, K.; Korneev, A.; Minaeva, O.; Divochiy, A.; Tarkhov, M.; Ryabchun, S.; Seleznev, V.; Kaurova, N.; Voronov, B.; Gol'tsman, G.; Polonsky, S.
Title (up) Ultrathin NbN film superconducting single-photon detector array Type Conference Article
Year 2007 Publication J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. Abbreviated Journal J. Phys.: Conf. Ser.
Volume 61 Issue Pages 1081-1085
Keywords SSPD array
Abstract We report on the fabrication process of the 2 × 2 superconducting single-photon detector (SSPD) array. The SSPD array is made from ultrathin NbN film and is operated at liquid helium temperatures. Each detector is a nanowire-based structure patterned by electron beam lithography process. The advances in fabrication technology allowed us to produce highly uniform strips and preserve superconducting properties of the unpatterned film. SSPD exhibit up to 30% quantum efficiency in near infrared and up to 1% at 5-μm wavelength. Due to 120 MHz counting rate and 18 ps jitter, the time-domain multiplexing read-out is proposed for large scale SSPD arrays. Single-pixel SSPD has already found a practical application in non-invasive testing of semiconductor very-large scale integrated circuits. The SSPD significantly outperformed traditional single-photon counting avalanche diodes.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1742-6588 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 408
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Author Vodolazov, D. Y.; Korneeva, Y. P.; Semenov, A. V.; Korneev, A. A.; Goltsman, G. N.
Title (up) Vortex-assisted mechanism of photon counting in a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector revealed by external magnetic field Type Journal Article
Year 2015 Publication Phys. Rev. B Abbreviated Journal Phys. Rev. B
Volume 92 Issue 10 Pages 104503 (1 to 9)
Keywords SSPD, SNSPD
Abstract We use an external magnetic field to probe the detection mechanism of a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector. We argue that the hot belt model (which assumes partial suppression of the superconducting order parameter Δ across the whole width of the superconducting nanowire after absorption of the photon) does not explain observed weak-field dependence of the photon count rate (PCR) for photons with λ=450nm and noticeable decrease of PCR (with increasing the magnetic field) in a range of the currents for photons with wavelengths λ=450–1200nm. Found experimental results for all studied wavelengths can be explained by the vortex hot spot model (which assumes partial suppression of Δ in the area with size smaller than the width of the nanowire) if one takes into account nucleation and entrance of the vortices to the photon induced hot spot and their pinning by the hot spot with relatively large size and strongly suppressed Δ.
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Publisher Place of Publication Editor
Language Summary Language Original Title
Series Editor Series Title Abbreviated Series Title
Series Volume Series Issue Edition
ISSN 1098-0121 ISBN Medium
Area Expedition Conference
Notes Approved no
Call Number Serial 1343
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Author Bulaevskii, L. N.; Graf, Matthias J.; Kogan, V. G.
Title (up) 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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Notes Approved no
Call Number RPLAB @ gujma @ Serial 733
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