We propose a single photon detector based on a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) with superconductor-normal metal-superconductor Josephson weak links. One of the two Josephson junctions is connected to an antenna, and is heated when a photon is absorbed. The increase of the weak link temperature exponentially suppresses the Josephson critical current thereby inducing an asymmetry in the SQUID. This generates a voltage pulse across the SQUID that can be measured with a threshold detector. Realized with realistic parameters the device can be used as a single photon detector, and as a calorimeter since it is able to discriminate photons frequency above 5THz with a signal-to-noise ratio larger than 20. The detector performance are robust with respect to working temperatures between 0.1 K and 0.5K, and thermal noise perturbation.
@article{arxiv.1711.10846,
title = {Proximity SQUID single photon detector via temperature-to-voltage conversion},
author = {P. Solinas and F. Giazotto and G. P. Pepe},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.10846},
year = {2018}
}