Effect of the wire width on the intrinsic detection efficiency of superconducting-nanowire single-photon detectors

Journal Article · Mon Jul 28 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4891105· OSTI ID:22308540

Semenov, A. ^[1]; Ilin, K.; Siegel, M. ^[2]; Korneeva, Y.; Trifonov, A. ^[3]; Korneev, A. ^[3]; Goltsman, G. ^[3]; Vodolazov, D. ^[4]; Hübers, H. -W. ^[1]

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1. Institute of Planetary Research, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Rutherfordstr. 2, 12489 Berlin (Germany)
2. Institute of Micro- und Nano-electronic Systems (IMS), KIT, Hertzstrasse 16, 76187 Karlsruhe (Germany)
3. Department of Physics, Moscow State Pedagogical University, 1 Malaya Pirogovskaya, 119991 Moscow (Russian Federation)
4. Institute for Physics of Microstructures, Russian Academy of Sciences, 603950 Nizhny Novgorod, GSP-105 (Russian Federation)

A thorough spectral study of the intrinsic single-photon detection efficiency in superconducting TaN and NbN nanowires with different widths has been performed. The experiment shows that the cut-off of the intrinsic detection efficiency at near-infrared wavelengths is most likely controlled by the local suppression of the barrier for vortex nucleation around the absorption site. Beyond the cut-off quasi-particle diffusion in combination with spontaneous, thermally activated vortex crossing explains the detection process. For both materials, the reciprocal cut-off wavelength scales linearly with the wire width where the scaling factor agrees with the hot-spot detection model.

• OSTI ID: 22308540
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 4; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY
ABSORPTION
DETECTION
DIFFUSION BARRIERS
EFFICIENCY
HOT SPOTS
NANOWIRES
NIOBIUM NITRIDES
PHOTONS
QUANTUM WIRES
QUASI PARTICLES
SCALING
TANTALUM NITRIDES
WIDTH