Related papers: Quantum thermodynamics with a single superconducti…
Low dimensional nano-systems are promising candidates for manipulating, controlling and capturing photons with large sensitivities and low-noise. If quantum engineered to tailor the energy of the localized electrons across the desired…
Radiation sensors based on the heating effect of the absorbed radiation are typically relatively simple to operate and flexible in terms of the input frequency. Consequently, they are widely applied, for example, in gas detection, security,…
Superconducting single photon detectors (SSPD) based on nanopatterned niobium nitride wires offer single photon counting at fast rates, low jitter, and low dark counts, from visible wavelengths well into the infrared. We demonstrate the…
Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in nanodiamonds are excellent nanoscale sensors for measuring parameters such as temperature, magnetic field, and viscosity in complex fluidic environments, including living cells. However, the rapid motion of…
The dynamics of quantized magnetic vortices and their pinning by materials defects determine electromagnetic properties of superconductors, particularly their ability to carry non-dissipative currents. Despite recent advances in the…
Besides its fundamental interest, understanding the dynamics of pair breaking in superconducting nanostructures is a central issue to optimize the performances of superconducting devices such as qubits or photon detectors. However, despite…
We argue that photon counts in a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) are caused by the transition from a current-biased metastable superconducting state to the normal state. Such a transition is triggered by vortices…
To elucidate the photon detection mechanism of superconducting single-photon detectors, we theoretically examine the dynamics of type-II superconductors with a bias current using the two-dimensional time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau and the…
In this work, we present a novel device that is a combination of a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector and a superconducting multi-level memory. We show that these devices can be used to count the number of detections through…
We observe single vortices as they penetrate the edge of a superconductor using a high-sensitivity magneto-optical microscope. The vortices leap across a gap near the edge, a distance that decreases with increasing applied field and sample…
Cavity optomechanics allows the characterization of a vibration mode, its cooling and quantum manipulation using electromagnetic fields. Regarding nanomechanical as well as electronic properties, single wall carbon nanotubes are a…
We present electronic transport measurements of a single wall carbon nanotube quantum dot coupled to Nb superconducting contacts. For temperatures comparable to the superconducting gap peculiar transport features are observed inside the…
The vortex dynamics and the specific heat of a type II superconducting system with quasi-periodic geometry is studied theoretically for different values of interaction parameters using the numerical simulation technique, where the…
We consider two possible mechanisms for single-vortex fluctuative entry/exit through the surface barrier in ultrathin superconducting disk-shaped nanoislands made of Pb and consisting of just few monoatomic layers, which can be fabricated…
Electron vortices are the quintessential signature of a viscous electron fluid. For decades, their detection relied on indirect transport measurements with persistently debated interpretations. Recently, scanning magnetometry enabled direct…
Propagation and relaxation of nonequilibrium quasiparticles in superconductors are of key importance for functioning of numerous nanoscale devices, enabling operation of some of them, and limiting the performance of the others. The…
The observation of vortices in superconductors was a major breakthrough in developing the conceptual background for superconducting applications. Each vortex carries a flux quantum, and the magnetic field radially decreases from the center.…
Interfacing single photons and electrons is a crucial ingredient for sharing quantum information between remote solid-state qubits. Semiconductor nanowires offer the unique possibility to combine optical quantum dots with avalanche…
We investigated vortex dynamics in a single-crystal sample of type-II superconductor NbSe$_{2}$ using scanning tunneling microscopy at 4.2 K. The decay of the magnetic field at a few nT/s in our superconducting magnet induced the…
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) with near-unity system efficiency is a key enabling, but still elusive technology for numerous quantum fundamental theory verifications and quantum information applications. The key…