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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de Lara DP, Ejrnaes M, Casaburi A, Lisitskiy M, Cristiano R, Pagano S, et al. Feasibility investigation of NbN nanowires as detector in time-of-flight mass spectrometers for macromolecules of interest in biology (proteins). J Low Temp Phys. 2008;151(3-4):771–6.
Abstract: We are investigating the possibility of using NbN nanowires as detectors in time-of-flight mass spectrometers for investigation of macromolecules of interest in biology (proteins). NbN nanowires could overcome the two major drawbacks encountered so far by cryogenic detectors, namely the low working temperature in the mK region and the slow temporal response. In fact, NbN nanowires can work at 5 K and the response time is at least a factor 10–100 better than that of other cryogenic detectors. We present a feasibility study based on a numerical code to calculate the response of a NbN nanowire. The parameter space is investigated at different energies from IR to macromolecules (i.e. from eV to keV) in order to understand if larger value of film thickness and width can be used for the keV energy region. We also present preliminary experimental results of irradiation with X-ray photons of NbN to simulate the effect of macromolecules of the same energy.
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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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Elezov M, Scherbatenko M, Sych D, Goltsman G, Arakelyan S, Evlyukhin A, et al. Towards the fiber-optic Kennedy quantum receiver. In: EPJ Web Conf. Vol 220.; 2019. 03011 (1 to 2).
Abstract: We consider practical aspects of using standard fiber-optic elements and superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors for the development of a practical quantum receiver based on the Kennedy scheme. Our receiver allows to discriminate two phase-modulated coherent states of light at a wavelength of 1.5 microns in continuous mode with bit rate 200 Kbit/s and error rate about two times below the standard quantum limit.
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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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