Energy-resolved detection of single infrared photons with λ = 8 μm using a superconducting microbolometer

@article{Karasik2012EnergyresolvedDO,
  title={Energy-resolved detection of single infrared photons with $\lambda$ = 8 $\mu$m using a superconducting microbolometer},
  author={Boris S. Karasik and Sergey V. Pereverzev and Alexander Soibel and Daniel F. Santavicca and Daniel E. Prober and David Olaya and Michael E. Gershenson},
  journal={Applied Physics Letters},
  year={2012},
  volume={101},
  pages={052601}
}
We report on the detection of single photons with λ = 8 μm using a superconducting hot-electron microbolometer. The sensing element is a titanium transition-edge sensor with a volume ∼0.1 μm3 fabricated on a silicon substrate. Poisson photon counting statistics including simultaneous detection of 3 photons was observed. The width of the photon-number peaks was 0.11 eV, 70% of the photon energy, at 50–100 mK. This achieved energy resolution is one of the best figures reported so far for… 
View PDF on arXiv
34 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
1
Background Citations
6
Methods Citations
3

Figures from this paper

34 Citations

Reduced Active Area in Transition-Edge Sensors for Visible-NIR Photon Detection: A Comparison of Experimental Data and Two-Fluid Model

Transition-edge sensors (TESs) are very versatile superconducting devices used to detect radiation from gamma-rays to visible and submillimeter. The intrinsic capability to measure the energy of the…

Graphene-based Bolometers

This article reviews recent research for development of sensitive graphene photon detectors in the infrared/far infrared/THz range. For this range, graphene has promising potential in thermal photon…

Ultrasensitive graphene far-infrared power detectors

These new results for the electron-phonon cooling channel allow reliable prediction of the noise equivalent power (NEP) that can be expected from an optimized graphene detector, using measurement of the Johnson noise emission as the thermometry method.

Cold-Electron Bolometer as a 1-cm-Wavelength Photon Counter

We investigate theoretically the possibility of using the cold-electron bolometer (CEB) as a counter for 1 cm wavelength (30 GHz) photons. To reduce the flux of photons from the environment, which…

Single-Detector Spectrometer Using a Superconducting Nanowire.

An optics-free single-detector spectrometer that maps the tunable quantum efficiency of a superconducting nanowire into a matrix to build a solvable mathematical equation is demonstrated and a spectral LiDAR with eight spectral channels is demonstrated.

Fabrication and Characterization of Fast TESs With Small Area for Single Photon Counting

Transition edge sensors (TESs) with high energy resolution (ΔE) at telecommunication wavelengths have been realized in the last years for application to experiments of quantum optics and quantum…

Josephson junction infrared single-photon detector

Single near-infrared photon detection is demonstrated by coupling photons to the localized surface plasmons of a graphene-based Josephson junction using the photon-induced switching statistics of the current-biased device to reveal the critical role of quasiparticles generated by the absorbed photon in the detection mechanism.

Graphene Microbolometers with Superconducting Contacts for Terahertz Photon Detection

We report on noise and thermal conductance measurements taken in order to determine an upper bound on the performance of graphene as a terahertz photon detector. The main mechanism for sensitive…

Nanosecond Thermometry with Josephson Junctions

We demonstrate a novel approach to thermometry at the nanoscale exploiting a superconducting weak link. Such a weak link probed with nanosecond current pulses serves as a temperature sensing element…

Performance of graphene thermal photon detectors

We analyze the performance of graphene microstructures as thermal photon detectors and deduce the range of parameters that define a linear response. The saturation effects of a graphene thermal…

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 58 REFERENCES

Energy resolution of terahertz single-photon-sensitive bolometric detectors

We report measurements of the energy resolution of ultrasensitive superconducting bolometric detectors. The device is a superconducting titanium nanobridge with niobium contacts. A fast microwave…

Detection of individual 0.4–28 μm wavelength photons via impurity‐impact ionization in a solid‐state photomultiplier

A solid‐state device capable of continuous detection of individual photons in the wavelength range from 0.4 to 28 μm is described. Operated with a dc applied bias, its response to the absorption of…

Detection of single infrared, optical, and ultraviolet photons using superconducting transition edge sensors

We have demonstrated the use of superconducting transition edge sensors for the wide-band detection of individual photons from the mid infrared (IR), through the optical, and into the far ultraviolet…

Counting near-infrared single-photons with 95% efficiency.

The fabrication and evaluation of a fiber-coupled, photon-number-resolving TES detector optimized for absorption at 1550 and 1310 nm wavelengths is described, which to the authors' knowledge is the highest system detection efficiency reported for a near-infrared single-photon detector.

Energy Collection Efficiency of Tungsten Transition-Edge Sensors in the Near-Infrared

Abstract Single-photon detectors operating at visible and near-infrared wavelengths with high detection efficiency and low noise are a requirement for many quantum-information applications. Detection…

Demonstration of a low-noise near-infrared photon counter with multiphoton discrimination

We have demonstrated a system capable of directly measuring the photon-number state of a single pulse of light using a superconducting transition-edge sensor microcalorimeter. We verify the…

Nanobolometers for THz Photon Detection

This paper reviews the state of rapidly emerging terahertz hot-electron nanobolometers (nano-HEB), which are currently among of the most sensitive radiation power detectors at submillimeter…

Noise-free high-efficiency photon-number-resolving detectors

High-efficiency optical detectors that can determine the number of photons in a pulse of monochromatic light have applications in a variety of physics studies, including post-selection-based…

Single-Photon Detectors in the Terahertz Range

  • S. Komiyama
  • Physics
    IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics
  • 2011
Semiconductor quantum dot detectors as well as semiconductor charge-sensitive infrared phototransistors are described. They are the only detectors that can count single photons in the terahertz…

An application of electrothermal feedback for high resolution cryogenic particle detection

A novel type of superconducting transition edge sensor is proposed. In this sensor, the temperature of a superconducting film is held constant by feeding back to its position on the resistive…
...