Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: Josephson junctions are superconducting devices used as high-sensitivity magnetometers and voltage amplifiers as well as the basis of high-performance cryogenic computers and superconducting quantum computers. Although device performance can be degraded by the generation of quasiparticles formed from broken Cooper pairs, this phenomenon also opens opportunities to sensitively detect electromagnetic radiation. We demonstrate single near-infrared photon detection by coupling photons to the localized surface plasmons of a graphene-based Josephson junction. Using the photon-induced switching statistics of the current-biased device, we reveal the critical role of quasiparticles generated by the absorbed photon in the detection mechanism. The photon sensitivity will enable a high-speed, low-power optical interconnect for future superconducting computing architectures.
Source: Science
Authors: Evan D. Walsh, Woochan Jung, Gil-Ho Lee, Dmitri K. Efetov, Bae-Ian Wu, K.-F. Huang, Thomas A. Ohki, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Philip Kim, Dirk Englund, Kin Chung Fong
Institutions: Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Institute of Photonic Sciences, Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, United States Air Force Research Laboratory, RTX (United States), National Institute for Materials Science
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: “la Caixa” Foundation, Centres de Recerca de Catalunya, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Norsk Revmatikerforbund, Samsung Science and Technology Foundation, Université de Sfax, Samsung, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Army Research Office
OpenAlex ID: W3095489370