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Baeva, E. M., Sidorova, M. V., Korneev, A. A., Smirnov, K. V., Divochy, A. V., Morozov, P. V., et al. (2018). Thermal properties of NbN single-photon detectors. Phys. Rev. Applied, 10(6), 064063 (1 to 8).
Abstract: We investigate thermal properties of a NbN single-photon detector capable of unit internal detection efficiency. Using an independent calibration of the coupling losses, we determine the absolute optical power absorbed by the NbN film and, via resistive superconductor thermometry, the temperature dependence of the thermal resistance Z(T) of the NbN film. In principle, this approach permits simultaneous measurement of the electron-phonon and phonon-escape contributions to the energy relaxation, which in our case is ambiguous because of the similar temperature dependencies. We analyze Z(T) with a two-temperature model and impose an upper bound on the ratio of electron and phonon heat capacities in NbN, which is surprisingly close to a recent theoretical lower bound for the same quantity in similar devices.
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Saveskul, N. A., Titova, N. A., Baeva, E. M., Semenov, A. V., Lubenchenko, A. V., Saha, S., et al. (2019). Superconductivity behavior in epitaxial TiN films points to surface magnetic disorder. Phys. Rev. Applied, 12(5), 054001.
Abstract: We analyze the evolution of the normal and superconducting properties of epitaxial TiN films, characterized by high Ioffe-Regel parameter values, as a function of the film thickness. As the film thickness decreases, we observe an increase of the residual resistivity, that becomes dominated by diffusive surface scattering for d≤20nm. At the same time, a substantial thickness-dependent reduction of the superconducting critical temperature is observed compared to the bulk TiN value. In such high-quality material films, this effect can be explained by a weak magnetic disorder residing in the surface layer with a characteristic magnetic defect density of approximately 1012cm−2. Our results suggest that surface magnetic disorder is generally present in oxidized TiN films.
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Baeva, E. M., Titova, N. A., Veyrat, L., Sacépé, B., Semenov, A. V., Goltsman, G. N., et al. (2021). Thermal relaxation in metal films limited by diffuson lattice excitations of amorphous substrates. Phys. Rev. Applied, 15(5), 054014.
Abstract: We examine the role of a silicon-based amorphous insulating substrate in the thermal relaxation in thin NbN, InOx, and Au/Ni films at temperatures above 5 K. The samples studied consist of metal bridges on an amorphous insulating layer lying on or suspended above a crystalline substrate. Noise thermometry is used to measure the electron temperature Te of the films as a function of Joule power per unit area P2D. In all samples, we observe a P2D∝Tne dependence, with exponent n≃2, which is inconsistent with both electron-phonon coupling and Kapitza thermal resistance. In suspended samples, the functional dependence of P2D(Te) on the length of the amorphous insulating layer is consistent with the linear temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity, which is related to lattice excitations (diffusons) for a phonon mean free path shorter than the dominant phonon wavelength. Our findings are important for understanding the operation of devices embedded in amorphous dielectrics.
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Korneev, A. A., Korneeva, Y. P., Mikhailov, M. Y., Pershin, Y. P., Semenov, A. V., Vodolazov, D. Y., et al. (2015). Characterization of MoSi superconducting single-photon detectors in the magnetic field. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 25(3), 2200504 (1 to 4).
Abstract: We investigate the response mechanism of nanowire superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) made of amorphous MoxSi1-x. We study the dependence of photon count and dark count rates on bias current in magnetic fields up to 113 mT at 1.7 K temperature. The observed behavior of photon counts is similar to the one recently observed in NbN SSPDs. Our results show that the detecting mechanism of relatively high-energy photons does not involve the vortex penetration from the edges of the film, and on the contrary, the detecting mechanism of low-energy photons probably involves the vortex penetration from the film edges.
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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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