Tunable sub-gap radiation detection with superconducting resonators. (24th February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dupré, O; Benoît, A; Calvo, M; Catalano, A; Goupy, J; Hoarau, C; Klein, T; Calvez, K Le; Sacépé, B; Monfardini, A; Levy-Bertrand, F
• Is Part Of: Superconductor science & technology. Volume 30:Number 4(2017:Apr.)
• Publication Date: 2017-02-24
• Subjects: kinetic inductance detector -- sub-gap excitation -- GHz to sub-THz detector; 85.25.-j -- 84.40.Dc -- 85.25.Pb -- 74.25.nn -- 73.20.Mf; Superconductivity -- Periodicals; Superconductors -- Periodicals; 537.623
• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6668/aa5b14
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0953-2048

Abstract

Abstract: We have fabricated planar amorphous indium oxide superconducting resonators ( T c ∼ 2.8 K) that are sensitive to frequency-selective radiation in the range of 7–10 GHz. Those values lay far below twice the superconducting gap that is worth about 200 GHz. The photon detection consists in a shift of the fundamental resonance frequency. We show that the detected frequency can be adjusted by modulating the total length of the superconducting resonator. We attribute those observations to the excitation of higher-order resonance modes. The coupling between the fundamental lumped and the higher order distributed resonance is due to the kinetic inductance nonlinearity with current. These devices, that we have called sub-gap kinetic inductance detectors, are to be distinguished from the standard kinetic inductance detectors in which quasi-particles are generated when incident light breaks down Cooper pairs.