PT Journal
AU Sclafani, M
   Marksteiner, M
   Keir, FML
   Divochiy, A
   Korneev, A
   Semenov, A
   Gol'tsman, G
   Arndt, M
TI Sensitivity of a superconducting nanowire detector for single ions at low energy
SO Nanotechnol.
JI Nanotechnol.
PY 2012
BP 065501 (1 to 5)
VL 23
IS 6
DI 10.1088/0957-4484/23/6/065501
LA English
DE NbN SSPD; SNSPD; superconducting single ion detector; SSID; SNSID
AB We report on the characterization of a superconducting nanowire detector for ions at low kinetic energies. We measure the absolute single-particle detection efficiency eta and trace its increase with energy up to eta = 100%. We discuss the influence of noble gas adsorbates on the cryogenic surface and analyze their relevance for the detection of slow massive particles. We apply a recent model for the hot-spot formation to the incidence of atomic ions at energies between 0.2 and 1 keV. We suggest how the differences observed for photons and atoms or molecules can be related to the surface condition of the detector and we propose that the restoration of proper surface conditions may open a new avenue for SSPD-based optical spectroscopy on molecules and nanoparticles.
ER