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Korneev A, Minaeva O, Rubtsova I, Milostnaya I, Chulkova G, Voronov B, et al. Superconducting single-photon ultrathin NbN film detector. Quantum Electronics. 2005;35(8):698–700.
Abstract: Superconducting single-photon ultrathin NbN film detectors are studied. The development of manufacturing technology of detectors and the reduction of their operating temperature down to 2 K resulted in a considerable increase in their quantum efficiency, which reached in the visible region (at 0.56 μm) 30%—40%, i.e., achieved the limit determined by the absorption coefficient of the film. The quantum efficiency exponentially decreases with increasing wavelength, being equal to ~20% at 1.55 μm and ~0.02% at 5 μm. For the dark count rate of ~10-4s-1, the experimental equivalent noise power was 1.5×10-20 W Hz-1/2; it can be decreased in the future down to the record low value of 5×10-21 W Hz-1/2. The time resolution of the detector is 30 ps.
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Karasik BS, Zorin MA, Milostnaya II, Elantev AI, Gol’tsman GN, Gershenzon EM. Subnanosecond switching of YBaCuO films between superconducting and normal states induced by current pulse. J Appl Phys. 1995;77(8):4064–70.
Abstract: A study is reported of the current switching in high‐quality YBaCuO films deposited onto NdGaO3 and ZrO2 substrates between superconducting (S) and normal (N) states. The films 60–120 nm thick prepared by laser ablation were structured into single strips between gold contacts. The time dependence of the resistance after application of the voltage step to the film was monitored. Experiment performed within certain ranges of voltage amplitudes and temperatures has shown the occurrence of the fast stage (shorter than 400 ps) both in S‐N and N‐S transitions. A fraction of the film resistance changing within this stage in the S‐N transition increases with the current amplitude. A subnanosecond N‐S stage becomes more pronounced for shorter pulses. The fast switching is followed by the much slower change of resistance. The mechanism of switching is discussed in terms of the hot‐electron phenomena in YBaCuO. The contributions of other thermal processes (e.g., a phonon escape from the film, a heat diffusion in the film and substrate, a resistive domain formation) in the subsequent stage of the resistance dynamic have been also discussed. The basic limiting characteristics (average dissipated power, energy needed for switching, maximum repetition rate) of a picosecond switch which is proposed to be developed are estimated.
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Gol'tsman GN, Korneev A, Rubtsova I, Milostnaya I, Chulkova G, Minaeva O, et al. Ultrafast superconducting single-photon detectors for near-infrared-wavelength quantum communications. Phys Stat Sol (C). 2005;2(5):1480–8.
Abstract: We present our progress on the research and development of NbN superconducting single‐photon detectors (SSPD's) for ultrafast counting of near‐infrared photons for secure quantum communications. Our SSPD's operate in the quantum detection mode based on the photon‐induced hotspot formation and subsequent development of a transient resistive barrier across an ultrathin and submicron‐width superconducting stripe. The devices are fabricated from 4‐nm‐thick NbN films and kept in the 4.2‐ to 2‐K temperature range. The detector experimental quantum efficiency in the photon‐counting mode reaches above 40% for the visible light and up to 30% in the 1.3‐ to 1.55‐µm wavelength range with dark counts below 0.01 per second. The experimental real‐time counting rate is above 2 GHz and is limited by our readout electronics. The SSPD's timing jitter is below 18 ps, and the best‐measured value of the noise‐equivalent power (NEP) is 5 × 10–21 W/Hz1/2 at 1.3 µm. In terms of quantum efficiency, timing jitter, and maximum counting rate, our NbN SSPD's significantly outperform semiconductor avalanche photodiodes and photomultipliers in the 1.3‐ to 1.55‐µm range.
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Reiger E, Pan D, Slysz W, Jukna A, Sobolewski R, Dorenbos S, et al. Spectroscopy with nanostructured superconducting single photon detectors. IEEE J Select Topics Quantum Electron. 2007;13(4):934–43.
Abstract: Superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) are nanostructured devices made from ultrathin superconducting films. They are typically operated at liquid helium temperature and exhibit high detection efficiency, in combination with very low dark counts, fast response time, and extremely low timing jitter, within a broad wavelength range from ultraviolet to mid-infrared (up to 6 mu m). SSPDs are very attractive for applications such as fiber-based telecommunication, where single-photon sensitivity and high photon-counting rates are required. We review the current state-of-the-art in the SSPD research and development, and compare the SSPD performance to the best semiconducting avalanche photodiodes and other superconducting photon detectors. Furthermore, we demonstrate that SSPDs can also be successfully implemented in photon-energy-resolving experiments. Our approach is based on the fact that the size of the hotspot, a nonsuperconducting region generated upon photon absorption, is linearly dependent on the photon energy. We introduce a statistical method, where, by measuring the SSPD system detection efficiency at different bias currents, we are able to resolve the wavelength of the incident photons with a resolution of 50 nm.
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Jukna A, Kitaygorsky J, Pan D, Cross A, Perlman A, Komissarov I, et al. Dynamics of hotspot formation in nanostructured superconducting stripes excited with single photons. Acta Physica Polonica A. 2008;113(3):955–8.
Abstract: Dynamics of a resistive hotspot formation by near-infrared-wavelength single photons in nanowire-type superconducting NbN stripes was investigated. Numerical simulations of ultrafast thermalization of photon-excited nonequilibrium quasiparticles, their multiplication and out-diffusion from a site of the photon absorption demonstrate that 1.55 μm wavelength photons create in an ultrathin, two-dimensional superconducting film a resistive hotspot with the diameter which depends on the photon energy, and the nanowire temperature and biasing conditions. Our hotspot model indicates that under the subcritical current bias of the 2D stripe, the electric field penetrates the superconductor at the hotspot boundary, leading to suppression of the stripe superconducting properties and accelerated development of a voltage transient across the stripe.
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Il’in KS, Milostnaya II, Verevkin AA, Gol’tsman GN, Gershenzon EM, Sobolewski R. Ultimate quantum efficiency of a superconducting hot-electron photodetector. Appl Phys Lett. 1998;73(26):3938–40.
Abstract: The quantum efficiency and current and voltage responsivities of fast hot-electron photodetectors, fabricated from superconducting NbN thin films and biased in the resistive state, have been shown to reach values of 340, 220 A/W, and 4×104 V/W,
respectively, for infrared radiation with a wavelength of 0.79 μm. The characteristics of the photodetectors are presented within the general model, based on relaxation processes in the nonequilibrium electron heating of a superconducting thin film. The observed, very high efficiency and sensitivity of the superconductor absorbing the photon are explained by the high multiplication rate of quasiparticles during the avalanche breaking of Cooper pairs.
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Słysz W, Węgrzecki M, Bar J, Grabiec P, Górska M, Zwiller V, et al. Fiber-coupled single-photon detectors based on NbN superconducting nanostructures for practical quantum cryptography and photon-correlation studies. Appl Phys Lett. 2006;88(26):261113 (1 to 3).
Abstract: We have fabricated and tested a two-channel single-photon detector system based on two fiber-coupled superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs). Our best device reached the system quantum efficiency of 0.3% in the 1540-nm telecommunication wavelength with a fiber-to-detector coupling factor of about 30%. The photoresponse consisted of 2.5-ns-wide voltage pulses with a rise time of 250ps and timing jitter below 40ps. The overall system response time, measured as a second-order, photon cross-correlation function, was below 400ps. Our SSPDs operate at 4.2K inside a liquid-helium Dewar, but their optical fiber inputs and electrical outputs are at room temperature. Our two-channel detector system should find applications in practical quantum cryptography and in antibunching-type quantum correlation measurements.
The authors would like to thank Dr. Marc Currie for his assistance in early time-resolved photoresponse measurements and Professor Atac Imamoglu for his support. This work was supported by the Polish Ministry of Science under Project No. 3 T11B 052 26 (Warsaw), RFBR 03-02-17697 and INTAS 03-51-4145 grants (Moscow), CRDF Grant No. RE2-2531-MO-03 (Moscow), RE2-2529-MO-03 (Moscow and Rochester), and US AFOSR FA9550-04-1-0123 (Rochester). Additional funding was provided by the grants from the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and BBN Technologies Corp.
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Słysz W, Wegrzecki M, Bar J, Grabiec P, Górska M, Zwiller V, et al. Fibre-coupled, single photon detector based on NbN superconducting nanostructures for quantum communications. J Modern Opt. 2007;54(2-3):315–26.
Abstract: We present a novel, two-channel, single photon receiver based on two fibre-coupled, NbN, superconducting, single photon detectors (SSPDs). The SSPDs are nanostructured superconducting meanders and are known for ultrafast and efficient detection of visible-to-infrared photons. Coupling between the NbN detector and optical fibre was achieved using a micromechanical photoresist ring placed directly over the SSPD, holding the fibre in place. With this arrangement, we obtained coupling efficiencies up to ∼30%. Our experimental results showed that the best receiver had a near-infrared system quantum efficiency of 0.33% at 4.2 K. The quantum efficiency increased exponentially with the photon energy increase, reaching a few percent level for visible-light photons. The photoresponse pulses of our devices were limited by the meander high kinetic inductance and had the rise and fall times of approximately 250 ps and 5 ns, respectively. The receiver's timing jitter was in the 37 to 58 ps range, approximately 2 to 3 times larger than in our older free-space-coupled SSPDs. We stipulate that this timing jitter is in part due to optical fibre properties. Besides quantum communications, the two-detector arrangement should also find applications in quantum correlation experiments.
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Gol'tsman G, Minaeva O, Korneev A, Tarkhov M, Rubtsova I, Divochiy A, et al. Middle-infrared to visible-light ultrafast superconducting single-photon detectors. IEEE Trans Appl Supercond. 2007;17(2):246–51.
Abstract: We present an overview of the state-of-the-art of NbN superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs). Our devices exhibit quantum efficiency (QE) of up to 30% in near-infrared wavelength and 0.4% at 5 mum, with a dark-count rate that can be as low as 10 -4 s -1 . The SSPD structures integrated with lambda/4 microcavities achieve a QE of 60% at telecommunication, 1550-nm wavelength. We have also developed a new generation of SSPDs that possess the QE of large-active-area devices, but, simultaneously, are characterized by low kinetic inductance that allows achieving short response times and the GHz-counting rate with picosecond timing jitter. The improvements presented in the SSPD development, such as fiber-coupled SSPDs, make our detectors most attractive for high-speed quantum communications and quantum computing.
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Kitaygorsky J, Komissarov I, Jukna A, Pan D, Minaeva O, Kaurova N, et al. Dark counts in nanostructured nbn superconducting single-photon detectors and bridges. IEEE Trans Appl Supercond. 2007;17(2):275–8.
Abstract: We present our studies on dark counts, observed as transient voltage pulses, in current-biased NbN superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs), as well as in ultrathin (~4 nm), submicrometer-width (100 to 500 nm) NbN nanobridges. The duration of these spontaneous voltage pulses varied from 250 ps to 5 ns, depending on the device geometry, with the longest pulses observed in the large kinetic-inductance SSPD structures. Dark counts were measured while the devices were completely isolated (shielded by a metallic enclosure) from the outside world, in a temperature range between 1.5 and 6 K. Evidence shows that in our two-dimensional structures the dark counts are due to the depairing of vortex-antivortex pairs caused by the applied bias current. Our results shed some light on the vortex dynamics in 2D superconductors and, from the applied point of view, on intrinsic performance of nanostructured SSPDs.
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