Large Signal Amplitude and Bias Range of Cascade Switch Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors

Author

Ejrnaes, Mikkel ; Casaburi, Alessandro ; Quaranta, Orlando ; Marchetti, Stefania ; Gaggero, Alessandro ; Mattioli, Francesco ; Leoni, Roberto ; Pagano, Sergio ; Cristiano, Roberto

Author_Institution

C.N.R.-Inst. of Cybern., Pozzuoli, Italy

Volume

19

Issue

3

fYear

2009

fDate

6/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

323

Lastpage

326

Abstract

Cascade switch superconducting nanowire single photon detectors has been fabricated of ultrathin NbN films deposited by DC-magnetron sputtering at room temperature on MgO substrates. Detectors using 4 to 24 nanowires in parallel, having an area coverage of 5times mum² and a filling factor of 40%, have been investigated. Signal amplitudes increase with the number of parallel nanowires and reaches 12.3 mV with a signal noise of 20 muV. The range of bias currents where the detectors emit signal pulses also increase with the number of parallel nanowires and exceeds the nanowire critical current.

Keywords

critical current density (superconductivity); nanowires; sputtering; superconducting photodetectors; superconducting switches; DC-magnetron sputtering; MgO; NbN; cascade switch superconducting detector; large signal amplitude; nanowire critical current; nanowire single photon detector; parallel nanowires; signal noise; temperature 293 K to 298 K; ultrathin film; voltage 12.3 mV; voltage 20 muV; Infrared detectors; nanotechnology; superconducting radiation detectors; thin films;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TASC.2009.2019034

Filename

5067236