Arutyunov, K. Y., Ramos-Alvarez, A., Semenov, A. V., Korneeva, Y. P., An, P. P., Korneev, A. A., et al. (2016). Superconductivity in highly disordered NbN nanowires. Nanotechnol., 27(47), 47lt02 (1 to 8).
Abstract: The topic of superconductivity in strongly disordered materials has attracted significant attention. These materials appear to be rather promising for fabrication of various nanoscale devices such as bolometers and transition edge sensors of electromagnetic radiation. The vividly debated subject of intrinsic spatial inhomogeneity responsible for the non-Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer relation between the superconducting gap and the pairing potential is crucial both for understanding the fundamental issues of superconductivity in highly disordered superconductors, and for the operation of corresponding nanoelectronic devices. Here we report an experimental study of the electron transport properties of narrow NbN nanowires with effective cross sections of the order of the debated inhomogeneity scales. The temperature dependence of the critical current follows the textbook Ginzburg-Landau prediction for the quasi-one-dimensional superconducting channel I c approximately (1-T/T c)(3/2). We find that conventional models based on the the phase slip mechanism provide reasonable fits for the shape of R(T) transitions. Better agreement with R(T) data can be achieved assuming the existence of short 'weak links' with slightly reduced local critical temperature T c. Hence, one may conclude that an 'exotic' intrinsic electronic inhomogeneity either does not exist in our structures, or, if it does exist, it does not affect their resistive state properties, or does not provide any specific impact distinguishable from conventional weak links.
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Kawamura, J., Blundell, R., Tong, C. - Y. E., Golts'man, G., Gershenzon, E., & Voronov B. (1996). Superconductive NbN hot-electron bolometric mixer performance at 250 GHz. In Proc. 7th Int. Symp. Space Terahertz Technol. (pp. 331–336).
Abstract: Thin film NbN (<40 A) strips are used as waveguide mixer elements. The electron cooling mechanism for the geometry is the electron-phonon interaction. We report a receiver noise temperature of 750 K at 244 GHz, with / IF = 1.5 GHz, Af= 500 MHz, and Tphysical = 4 K. The instantaneous bandwidth for this mixer is 1.6 GHz. The local oscillator (LO) power is 0.5 1.tW with 3 dB-uncertainty. The mixer is linear to 1 dB up to an input power level 6 dB below the LO power. We report the first detection of a molecular line emission using this class of mixer, and that the receiver noise temperature determined from Y-factor measurements reflects the true heterodyne sensitivity.
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Kawamura, J., Blundell, R., Tong, C. - Y. E., Papa, D. C., Hunter, T. R., Paine, S. N., et al. (2000). Superconductive hot-electron-bolometer mixer receiver for 800-GHz operation. IEEE Trans. Microw. Theory Techn., 48(4), 683–689.
Abstract: In this paper, we describe a superconductive hot-electron-bolometer mixer receiver designed to operate in the partially transmissive 350-μm atmospheric window. The receiver employs an NbN thin-film microbridge as the mixer element, in which the main cooling mechanism of the hot electrons is through electron-phonon interaction. At a local-oscillator frequency of 808 GHz, the measured double-sideband receiver noise temperature is TRX=970 K, across a 1-GHz intermediate-frequency bandwidth centered at 1.8 GHz. We have measured the linearity of the receiver and the amount of local-oscillator power incident on the mixer for optimal operation, which is PLO≈1 μW. This receiver was used in making observations as a facility instrument at the Heinrich Hertz Telescope, Mt. Graham, AZ, during the 1998-1999 winter observing season.
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Kawamura, J., Blundell, R., Tong, C. - Y. E., Papa, D. C., Hunter, T. R., Paine, St. N., et al. (2000). Superconductive hot-electron bolometer mixer receiver for 800 GHz operation (Vol. 48).
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Julia Toussaint, R. G., Marco Schubert, Torsten May, Hans-Georg Meyer, Benjamin Dietzek, Jürgen Popp, Matthias Hofherr, Matthias Arndt, Dagmar Henrich, Konstantin Il'in, and Michael Siegel. (2012). Superconducting single-photon counting system for optical experiments requiring time-resolution in the picosecond range. AIP REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS, 83.
Abstract: We have developed a cryogenic measurement system for single-photon counting, which can be used
in optical experiments requiring high time resolution in the picosecond range. The system utilizes
niobium nitride superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors which are integrated in a timecorrelated
single-photon counting (TCSPC) setup. In this work, we describe details of the mechanical
design, the electrical setup, and the cryogenic optical components. The performance of the complete
system in TCSPC mode is tentatively benchmarked using 140 fs long laser pulses at a repetition
frequency of 75MHz. Due to the high temporal stability of these pulses, the measured time resolution
of 35 ps (FWHM) is limited by the timing jitter of the measurement system. The result was crosschecked
in a Coherent Anti-stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) setup, where scattered pulses from a
β-barium borate crystal have been detected with the same time resolution.
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