Beck, M., Rousseau, I., Klammer, M., Leiderer, P., Mittendorff, M., Winnerl, S., et al. (2013). Transient increase of the energy gap of superconducting NbN thin films excited by resonant narrow-band terahertz pulses. Phys. Rev. Lett., 110(26), 267003 (1 to 5).
Abstract: Observations of radiation-enhanced superconductivity have thus far been limited to a few type-I superconductors (Al, Sn) excited at frequencies between the inelastic scattering rate and the superconducting gap frequency 2Delta/h. Utilizing intense, narrow-band, picosecond, terahertz pulses, tuned to just below and above 2Delta/h of a BCS superconductor NbN, we demonstrate that the superconducting gap can be transiently increased also in a type-II dirty-limit superconductor. The effect is particularly pronounced at higher temperatures and is attributed to radiation induced nonthermal electron distribution persisting on a 100 ps time scale.
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Zorin, M., Gol'tsman, G. N., Karasik, B. S., Elantev, A. I., Gershenzon, E. M., Lindgren, M., et al. (1995). Optical mixing in thin YBa2Cu3O7-x films. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 5(2), 2431–2434.
Abstract: High quality, j/sub c/ (77 K)>10/sup 6/ A/cm/sup 2/, epitaxial YBa2Cu3O7-x films of 50 nm thickness were patterned into ten parallel 1 /spl mu/m wide strips. The film structure was coupled to a single-mode fiber. Mixer response was obtained at 0.78 /spl mu/m using laser frequency modulation and an optical delay line. Using two semiconductor lasers at 1.55 /spl mu/m wavelength the beating signal was used to measure the photoresponse up to 18 GHz. Nonequilibrium photoresponse in the resistive state of the superconductor was observed. Bolometric response dominates up to 3 GHz, after which the nonequilibrium response is constant up to the frequency limit of our registration system. Using an electron heating model the influence of different thermal processes on the conversion loss has been analyzed. Ways of increasing the sensitivity are also discussed.
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Gershenzon, E. M., Gol'tsman, G. N., Dzardanov, A. L., & Kuznetsov, E. A. (1992). Superconducting UHF-limiter based on electron heating up. Sverkhprovodimost': Fizika, Khimiya, Tekhnika, 5(11), 2164–2170.
Abstract: The results of experimental investigation of fast-action 5HF-limiter are presented; the limiter is based on the utilization of electron hetaing phenomenon in thin superconducting films. The design of SHF-limiter, which is intended for operation at liquid helium temperatures and which has the form of a section of superconducting NbN microstrip line for 1-12 GHz rang, is described.
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Karasik, B. S., Milostnaya, I. I., Zorin, M. A., Elantev, A. I., Gol'tsman, G. N., & Gershenzon, E. M. (1994). Subnanosecond S-N and N-S switching of YBCO film induced by current pulse. Phys. C: Supercond., 235-240, 1981–1982.
Abstract: A transition of YBCO bridge 60 nm thick from superconducting to normal state induced by an abrupt current step has been studied. A subnanosecond stage has been observed during both S-N and N-S transition. The data obtained can be explained by hot-electron phenomena. On the basis of experimental results a prediction of picosecond switch performance has been made.
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Sobolewski, R., Verevkin, A., Gol'tsman, G. N., Lipatov, A., & Wilsher, K. (2003). Ultrafast superconducting single-photon optical detectors and their applications. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 13(2), 1151–1157.
Abstract: We present a new class of ultrafast single-photon detectors for counting both visible and infrared photons. The detection mechanism is based on photon-induced hotspot formation, which forces the supercurrent redistribution and leads to the appearance of a transient resistive barrier across an ultrathin, submicrometer-width, superconducting stripe. The devices were fabricated from 3.5-nm- and 10-nm-thick NbN films, patterned into <200-nm-wide stripes in the 4 /spl times/ 4-/spl mu/m/sup 2/ or 10 /spl times/ 10-/spl mu/m/sup 2/ meander-type geometry, and operated at 4.2 K, well below the NbN critical temperature (T/sub c/=10-11 K). Continuous-wave and pulsed-laser optical sources in the 400-nm-to 3500-nm-wavelength range were used to determine the detector performance in the photon-counting mode. Experimental quantum efficiency was found to exponentially depend on the photon wavelength, and for our best, 3.5-nm-thick, 100-/spl mu/m/sup 2/-area devices varied from >10% for 405-nm radiation to 3.5% for 1550-nm photons. The detector response time and jitter were /spl sim/100 ps and 35 ps, respectively, and were acquisition system limited. The dark counts were below 0.01 per second at optimal biasing. In terms of the counting rate, jitter, and dark counts, the NbN single-photon detectors significantly outperform their semiconductor counterparts. Already-identified applications for our devices range from noncontact testing of semiconductor CMOS VLSI circuits to free-space quantum cryptography and communications.
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