A high-Tc van der Waals superconductor based photodetector with ultra-high responsivity and nanosecond relaxation time. (21st June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Seifert, Paul; Retamal, José Ramón Durán; Merino, Rafael Luque; Sheinfux, Hanan Herzig; Moore, John N; Aamir, Mohammed Ali; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; Kadowaki, Kazuo; Artiglia, Massimo; Romagnoli, Marco; Efetov, Dmitri K
• Is Part Of: 2D materials. Volume 8:Number 3(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-06-21
• Subjects: photodetector -- waveguide integration -- focused helium ion beam -- high-Tc superconductor -- van-der-Waals material; Graphene -- Periodicals; Materials science -- Periodicals; Nanostructured materials -- Periodicals; 620.115
• DOI: 10.1088/2053-1583/ac072f
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2053-1583

Abstract

Abstract: Photodetectors based on nano-structured superconducting thin films are currently some of the most sensitive quantum sensors and are key enabling technologies in such broad areas as quantum information, quantum computation and radio-astronomy. However, their broader use is held back by the low operation temperatures which require expensive cryostats. Here, we demonstrate a high- T c superconducting photodetector, which shows orders of magnitude improved performance characteristics of any superconducting detector operated above 77 K, with a responsivity of 9.61 × 10 4 V W −1, theoretically achievable noise equivalent power of 15.9 fW Hz 1/2 and nanosecond relaxation times. At 15 K the detector reaches an ultra-high performance of 2.33 × 10 7 V W −1 and 55.2 aW Hz 1/2 . It is based on van der Waals heterostructures of the high temperature superconductor Bi2 Sr2 CaCu2 O8+ δ, which are shaped into nano-wires with ultra-small form factor using focused helium ion beam irradiation. To highlight the versatility of the detector we demonstrate its fabrication and operation on a telecom grade SiN waveguide chip. Our detector significantly relaxes the demands of practical applications of superconducting detectors and displays its possible potential for photonics based quantum applications.