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arXiv:2312.08296 · Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics Letters

Nonlinear Kinetic Inductance Sensor

Denis Yu. Vodolazov

Published Nov 1, 2023• 5 citations
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Abstract

The concept of nonlinear kinetic inductance sensor (NKIS) of electromagnetic radiation is proposed. The idea is based on divergency of kinetic inductance $${{L}_{k}} \sim dq{\text{/}}dI$$ ( $$\hbar q$$ is a momentum of superconducting electrons, I is a supercurrent) of hybrid superconductor/normal metal (SN) bridge at current $$I{\text{*}} < {{I}_{{{\text{dep}}}}}$$ ( $${{I}_{{{\text{dep}}}}}$$ is a depairing current of the hybrid) and temperature T* much smaller than critical temperature $${{T}_{c}}$$ . It makes possible to have large change of phase difference $$\delta \phi $$ along SN bridge in current biased regime at $$I \simeq I{\text{*}}$$ even for small electron temperature increase. Appearance of $$\delta \phi $$ is accompanied by the change of the current and magnetic flux through the coupled superconducting ring which could be measured with help of superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID). In some respect proposed sensor may be considered as a superconducting counterpart of transition edge sensor (TES) those work is based on large derivative $$dR{\text{/}}dT$$ ( $$R$$ is a resistance) near $${{T}_{c}}$$ . Because at $$I \simeq I{\text{*}}$$ SN bridge is in gapless regime there is no low boundary for frequency of detected electromagnetic radiation. Our calculations show that such a sensor can operate in single photon regime and detect single photons with frequency $$\nu \gtrsim $$ 10 GHz. We argue that the nontrivial dependence $$I(q)$$ of SN bridge could be also used in detectors of continuous electromagnetic radiation, current and magnetic field sensors.

DOI
10.1134/s0021364023603251

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While experimental studies of kinetic-inductance sensors have been limited so far by the temperature range near the superconducting transition, these detectors can be very sensitive at temperatures well below the transition, where the number of equilibrium quasiparticles is exponentially small. In this regime, a shift of the quasiparticle chemical potential under radiation results in the change of the kinetic inductance, which can be measured by a sensitive SQUID readout. We modeled the kinetic inductance response of detectors made from disordered superconducting Nb, NbC, and MoRe films. Low phonon transparency of the interface between the superconductor and the substrate causes substantial re-trapping of phonons providing high quantum efficiency and the operating time of ∼1 ms at ≈1 K. Due to the small number of quasiparticles, the noise equivalent power of the detector determined by the quasiparticle generation-recombination noise can be as small as ∼10−19 W/√Hz at He4 temperatures.
We are starting to investigate a novel multiplexable readout method that can be applied to a large class of superconducting pair-breaking detectors.This readout method is completely different from those currently used with STJ and TES detectors, and in principle could deliver large pixel counts, high sensitivity, and Fano-limited spectral resolution.The readout is based on the fact that the kinetic surface inductance L s of a superconductor is a function of the density of quasiparticles n, even at temperatures far below T c .An efficient way to measure changes in the kinetic inductance is to monitor the transmission phase of a resonant circuit.By working at microwave frequencies and using thin films, the kinetic inductance can be a significant part of the total inductance L, and the volume of the inductor can be made quite small, on the order of 1 //m 3 .As is done with other superconducting detectors, trapping could be used to concentrate the quasiparticles into the small volume of the inductor.However, the most intriguing aspect of the concept is that passive frequency multiplexing could be used to read out ~ 10 3 detectors with a single HEMT amplifier. DETECTOR CONCEPTKinetic inductance detectors operate on the principle that a change in the number of quasiparticles in a superconductor will produce a change in the kinetic inductance.This occurs because the quasiparticles block Cooper pairs from occupying some of the electron states.Photons (or particles) are absorbed in the superconductor, producing quasiparticles, and the resulting change in the inductance is measured to produce the detector output.Bolometric detectors using kinetic inductance thermometers have been previously suggested [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].However, such thermometers must be operated close to T c , since the variation of the kinetic inductance with temperature is most rapid near T c , and vanishes exponentially at low temperatures.Although it has been discussed previously [7], it is not widely appreciated that the the variation of the kinetic inductance with energy or quasiparticle number is actually fairly constant down to very low temperatures.The idea, then, is to use the kinetic inductance effect to read out changes in the quasiparticle population produced by the direct absorbtion of pair-breaking photons rather than changes in the temperature of the phonons in a bolometric absorber.How can one measure the change in the kinetic inductance of a superconductor?One way is to make the superconductor act as an inductive element in a resonant circuit.A change in the quasiparticle population will change the inductance of the superconductor, and therefore the resonance frequency of the circuit, which can be monitored by measuring the transmission phase of a constant-frequency microwave probe signal transmitted through (or reflected from) the resonator.This method is extremely attractive, due both to CP605, Low Temperature Detectors, edited by F. S. Porter et al.
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