Origin of dark counts in nanostructured NbN single-photon detectors

Author

Kitaygorsky, J. ; Zhang, J. ; Verevkin, A. ; Sergeev, A. ; Korneev, A. ; Matvienko, V. ; Kouminov, P. ; Smirnov, K. ; Voronov, B. ; Gol´tsman, Gregory ; Sobolewski, Roman

Author_Institution

Univ. of Rochester, NY, USA

Volume

15

Issue

2

fYear

2005

fDate

6/1/2005 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

545

Lastpage

548

Abstract

We present our study of dark counts in ultrathin (3.5 to 10 nm thick), narrow (120 to 170 nm wide) NbN superconducting stripes of different lengths. In experiments, where the stripe was completely isolated from the outside world and kept at temperature below the critical temperature T_c, we detected subnanosecond electrical pulses associated with the spontaneous appearance of the temporal resistive state. The resistive state manifested itself as generation of phase-slip centers (PSCs) in our two-dimensional superconducting stripes. Our analysis shows that not far from T_c, PSCs have a thermally activated nature. At lowest temperatures, far below T_c, they are created by quantum fluctuations.

Keywords

dark conductivity; nanostructured materials; niobium compounds; superconducting materials; superconducting particle detectors; 120 to 170 nm; 2D superconducting stripes; 3.5 to 10 nm; NbN; dark counts; nanostructured single-photon detectors; phase-slip centers; quantum fluctuations; temporal resistive state; Detectors; Fluctuations; Nanostructures; Phase detection; Pulse measurements; Quantum computing; Superconducting device noise; Superconducting films; Temperature sensors; Two dimensional displays; Dark counts; phase-slip centers; quantum fluctuations; single-photon detectors; two-dimensional superconducting stripes;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Applied Superconductivity, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1051-8223

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TASC.2005.849914

Filename

1439695