We propose to use graphene-based Josephson junctions (gJjs) to detect single photons in a wide electromagnetic spectrum from visible to radio frequencies. Our approach takes advantage of the exceptionally low electronic heat capacity of monolayer graphene and its constricted thermal conductance to its phonon degrees of freedom. Such a system could provide high sensitivity photon detection required for research areas including quantum information processing and radio-astronomy. As an example, we present our device concepts for gJj single photon detectors in both the microwave and infrared regimes. The dark count rate and intrinsic quantum efficiency are computed based on parameters from a measured gJj, demonstrating feasibility within existing technologies.
@article{arxiv.1703.09736,
title = {Graphene-based Josephson junction single photon detector},
author = {Evan D. Walsh and Dmitri K. Efetov and Gil-Ho Lee and Mikkel Heuck and Jesse Crossno and Thomas A. Ohki and Philip Kim and Dirk Englund and Kin Chung Fong},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1703.09736},
year = {2017}
}