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Feautrier P, le Coarer E, Espiau de Lamaestre R, Cavalier P, Maingault L, Villégier J-C, et al. High-speed superconducting single photon detectors for innovative astronomical applications. In: J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. Vol 97.; 2008. 10.
Abstract: Superconducting Single Photon Detectors (SSPD) are now mature enough to provide extremely interesting detector performances in term of sensitivity, speed, and geometry in the visible and near infrared wavelengths. Taking advantage of recent results obtained in the Sinphonia project, the goal of our research is to demonstrate the feasibility of a new family of micro-spectrometers, called SWIFTS (Stationary Wave Integrated Fourier Transform Spectrometer), associated to an array of SSPD, the whole assembly being integrated on a monolithic sapphire substrate coupling the detectors array to a waveguide injecting the light. This unique association will create a major breakthrough in the domain of visible and infrared spectroscopy for all applications where the space and weight of the instrument is limited. SWIFTS is an innovative way to achieve very compact spectro-detectors using nano-detectors coupled to evanescent field of dielectric integrated optics. The system is sensitive to the interferogram inside the dielectric waveguide along the propagation path. Astronomical instruments will be the first application of such SSPD spectrometers. In this paper, we describes in details the fabrication process of our SSPD built at CEA/DRFMC using ultra-thin NbN epitaxial films deposited on different orientations of Sapphire substrates having state of the art superconducting characteristics. Electron beam lithography is routinely used for patterning the devices having line widths below 200 nm and down to 70 nm. An experimental set-up has been built and used to test these SSPD devices and evaluate their photon counting performances. Photon counting performances of our devices have been demonstrated with extremely low dark counts giving excellent signal to noise ratios. The extreme compactness of this concept is interesting for space spectroscopic applications. Some new astronomical applications of such concept are proposed in this paper.
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Engel A, Aeschbacher A, Inderbitzin K, Schilling A, Il'in K, Hofherr M, et al. Tantalum nitride superconducting single-photon detectors with low cut-off energy. arXiv. 2011:9.
Abstract: Materials with a small superconducting energy gap favor a high detection efficiency of low-energy photons in superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. We developed a TaN detector with smaller gap and lower density of states at the Fermi energy than in comparable NbN devices, while other relevant parameters remain essentially unchanged. This results in a reduction of the minimum photon energy required for direct detection to $\approx1/3$ as compared to NbN.
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Bulaevskii LN, Graf MJ, Kogan VG. Vortex-assisted photon counts and their magnetic field dependence in single-photon superconducting detectors. Phys Rev B. 2012;85(1):9.
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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Verevkin A, Slysz W, Pearlman A, Zhang J, Sobolewski R, Okunev O, et al. Real-time GHz-rate counting of infrared photons using nanostructured NbN superconducting detectors. In: CLEO/QELS. Optical Society of America; 2003. CThM8.
Abstract: We demonstrate that our ultrathin, nanometer-width NbN superconducting single-photon detectors are capable of above 1-GHz-frequency, real-time counting of near-infrared photons. The measured system jitter of the detector is below 15 ps.
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Манова НН, Корнеева ЮП, Корнеев АА, Слыш В, Воронов БМ, Гольцман ГН. Сверхпроводниковый NbN однофотонный детектор, интегрированный с четвертьволновым резонатором. ПЖТФ. 2011;37(10):7.
Abstract: Исследована спектральная зависимость квантовой эффективности сверхпроводниковых NbN однофотонных детекторов, интегрированных с оптическими четвертьволновыми резонаторами с использованием диэлектриков Si3N4, SiO2, SiO.
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Annunziata AJ, Quaranta O, Santavicca DF, Casaburi A, Frunzio L, Ejrnaes M, et al. Reset dynamics and latching in niobium superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. J. Appl. Phys.. 2010;108(8):7.
Abstract: We study the reset dynamics of niobium (Nb) superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) using experimental measurements and numerical simulations. The numerical simulations of the detection dynamics agree well with experimental measurements, using independently determined parameters in the simulations. We find that if the photon-induced hotspot cools too slowly, the device will latch into a dc resistive state. To avoid latching, the time for the hotspot to cool must be short compared to the inductive time constant that governs the resetting of the current in the device after hotspot formation. From simulations of the energy relaxation process, we find that the hotspot cooling time is determined primarily by the temperature-dependent electron-phonon inelastic time. Latching prevents reset and precludes subsequent photon detection. Fast resetting to the superconducting state is, therefore, essential, and we demonstrate experimentally how this is achieved. We compare our results to studies of reset and latching in niobium nitride SNSPDs.
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Dorenbos SN, Heeres RW, Driessen EFC, Zwiller V. Efficient and robust fiber coupling of superconducting single photon detectors. arXiv. 2011:6.
Abstract: We applied a recently developed fiber coupling technique to superconducting single photon detectors (SSPDs). As the detector area of SSPDs has to be kept as small as possible, coupling to an optical fiber has been either inefficient or unreliable. Etching through the silicon substrate allows fabrication of a circularly shaped chip which self aligns to the core of a ferrule terminated fiber in a fiber sleeve. In situ alignment at cryogenic temperatures is unnecessary and no thermal stress during cooldown, causing misalignment, is induced. We measured the quantum efficiency of these devices with an attenuated tunable broadband source. The combination of a lithographically defined chip and high precision standard telecommunication components yields near unity coupling efficiency and a system detection efficiency of 34% at a wavelength of 1200 nm. This quantum efficiency measurement is confirmed by an absolute efficiency measurement using correlated photon pairs (with $\lambda$ = 1064 nm) produced by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The efficiency obtained via this method agrees well with the efficiency measured with the attenuated tunable broadband source.
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Zinoni C, Alloing B, Li LH, Marsili F, Fiore A, Lunghi L, et al. Single-photonics at telecom wavelengths using nanowire superconducting single photon detectors. In: CLEO/QELS. Optical Society of America; 2007. QTuF6 (1 to 2).
Abstract: Novel single-photon detectors based on NbN superconducting nanostructures promise orders-of- magnitude improvement over InGaAs APDs. We demonstrate this improved performance for the first time by measuring the g(2)(τ) on single photon states produced by a quantum dot at telecom wavelength.
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Чулкова ГМ, Семенов АВ, Корнеев АА, Кардакова АИ, Аверьев НВ, Ан ПП, et al. Спектральная чувствительность сверхпроводникового однофотонного детектора. Ж радиоэлектрон. 2011;11:5.
Abstract: We consider quantum efficiency dependence on photons' energy from hot spot model. Direction of quasiparticles diffusion drive across superconductive film. The maximal quantum efficiency is proportional to a probability of photon absorption. The spectral sensitivity of superconductive single photon detector does not have clearly expressed red limit. Changing regimes of work depends on a wavelength we can get high values of quantum efficiency in visible and infrared range which will be specified by the quality of fabrication of detectors and their consistency with the radiation.
Key words: superconducting single-photon detector, SSPD, quantum efficiency, spectral sensitivity.
В статье представлена зависимость квантовой эффективности от энергии фотона в рамках модели горячего пятна. Диффузия квазичастиц происходит в основном перпендикулярно направлению тока в областях с максимальной плотностью тока. Максимальная квантовая эффективность детектора пропорциональна вероятности поглощения фотона. Несмотря на квантовый характер работы сверхпроводникового однофотонного детектора, он не имеет четко выраженной красной границы. Изменяя режим работы в зависимости от длины волны можно в видимом и инфракрасном диапазонах получать высокие значения квантовой эффективности, которые будут определяться лишь качеством изготовления детекторов и степенью их согласования с излучением.
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Kerman AJ, Yang JKW, Molnar RJ, Dauler EA, Berggren KK. Electrothermal feedback in superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. Phys Rev B. 2009;79(10):4.
Abstract: We investigate the role of electrothermal feedback in the operation of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). It is found that the desired mode of operation for SNSPDs is only achieved if this feedback is unstable, which happens naturally through the slow electrical response associated with their relatively large kinetic inductance. If this response is sped up in an effort to increase the device count rate, the electrothermal feedback becomes stable and results in an effect known as latching, where the device is locked in a resistive state and can no longer detect photons. We present a set of experiments which elucidate this effect and a simple model which quantitatively explains the results.
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