Innovation Area - Information processing for quantum technology

Infrared single-photon detection via superconducting nanowires tailored by disorder, temperature, and magnetic field

Ultrafast superconducting single-photon nanowire detectors (SNSPDs) are versatile detectors with possible applications in quantum sensing, imaging, and information processing, e.g. in the telecom wavelength near 1550 nm in the infrared (IR). Unfortunately, SNSPDs are substantially less efficient in the IR than for visible and higher energy photons. In the project “Infrared single-photon detection via superconducting nanowires tailored by disorder, temperature, and magnetic field” groups from ACP Jena (SNSPD fabrication, transport properties), IQST Stuttgart (dynamics of superconductors), and IQST Ulm (microscopic model) will develop novel design rules and operation to enhance the IR sensitivity of SNSPDs. The research question at the heart of the project is: Which new phenomena occur in the interplay of single photon absorption and vortex dynamics in a SNSPD with disorder, if an external magnetic field is applied?