A Measuring Stand for Single-Photon Detectors Based on NbN Nanostructures
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NEERING PHYSICS
A Measuring Stand for Single-Photon Detectors Based on NbN Nanostructures K. A. Balygin1, 2 , S. I. Bozhko3 , A. M. Ionov3 , A. I. Klimov1, 2* , S. P. Kulik4, 2 , S. N. Molotkov3 , I. E. Ostashev1 , and V. M. Chernyk3 1
Kurchatov Institute National Research Center, Moscow, 123182 Russia Center for Quantum Technologies, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia 3 Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chernogolovka, Moscow region, 142432 Russia 4 Department of Physics, Moscow State University, Moscow, 119991 Russia 2
Received December 9, 2019; revised March 11, 2020; accepted March 11, 2020
Abstract—A measuring complex for recording events by single-photon superconducting detectors based on NbN structures is presented; low-noise high-frequency HEMT transistors are used as cryogenic amplifiers in it. Keywords: cryogenic amplifier, single-photon detector, cryostat. DOI: 10.3103/S0027134920030042
INTRODUCTION Each stand for the investigation and optimization of parameters of single-photon detectors for quantum-cryptography systems, including superconducting single-photon detectors, should provide the following abilities: • the ability to estimate the quantum efficiency of single-photon detectors experimentally; • the ability to estimate the frequency of dark readings of single-photon detectors experimentally in the range from 10−3 to 10−7 ns−1 ; • the ability to test single-photon detectors experimentally in the optical range of wavelengths. The earliest single-photon detectors were the well-known photoelectric multipliers. In these devices, the detection of photons is based on the outer photoeffect (electrons are dislodged from the photocathode under the absorption of a photon) and the subsequent avalanche fission. A detector based on microchannel plates can be considered as the next (in time) photon detector. Each microchannel plate contains ∼106 channels per *
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square centimeter and each acts as an independent electronic multiplier. Each channel of a microchannel plate is a thin glass tube with electrodes at its endpoints such that its surface possesses high resistance and a high secondary-emission coefficient. An electric field applied to the endpoints of the tube causes an electronic multiplication process in it until the electronic avalanche reaches the end of the tube (see [1]). For the single-photon detection of wavelengths exceeding 1000 nm, avalanche photodiodes are produced on the basis of Ge and InGaAs semiconductors with low widths of the prohibited zone. For such detectors, the greatest value of the quantum efficiency does not exceed 20% at a wavelength of 1500 nm; its disadvantage is its rather long dark computing period (approximately 104 1/s). In [2], various types of semiconductor detectors of single-photon events were considered in detail. A detector based on the nanostructure from an ultrathin film of niobium nitride (NbN), known as a Superconducting Single Photon Detector (SSPD), is sensitive to single photons in the visible and infr
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