Approaching microwave photon sensitivity with Al Josephson junctions

• Andrey L. Pankratov,
• Anna V. Gordeeva,
• Leonid S. Revin,
• Dmitry A. Ladeynov,
• Anton A. Yablokov and
• Leonid S. Kuzmin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 582–589, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.50

• [7], where the phase-diffusion regime is possible [32][33][34][35][36][37], the analyzed junction demonstrates a typical behavior [4][38], that is, a monotonic increase in the switching current distribution width with the rise of the temperature, see Figure 3. For the switching current measurements

• when four photons are absorbed (q[4] = 0.13). These probabilities are obtained from fitting experimental data, see Figure 5 below. The scale of the effective thermal fluctuation energy is given by black arrows for T = 265 mK (see the main text). Width of the switching current distribution of the

Microwave photon detection by an Al Josephson junction

• Leonid S. Revin,
• Andrey L. Pankratov,
• Anna V. Gordeeva,
• Anton A. Yablokov,
• Igor V. Rakut,
• Victor O. Zbrozhek and
• Leonid S. Kuzmin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 960–965, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.80

• through the JJ is observed, which resembles the differentiation between N and N + 1 photon absorption. Keywords: aluminium; Josephson junction; microwaves; phase diffusion; photon counter; switching current distribution; Introduction Currently, an important problem is the creation of single-photon

• current distribution [21][31]. For underdamped junctions (α ≪ 1), the width of the switching current distributions monotonically decreases with decreasing temperature. In the case of moderately damped junctions (α > 0.2), the switching dynamics changes due to phase diffusion, i.e., the width of the

• then relax into one of the potential minima [24]. When barrier and noise are large, the exit from the well and the subsequent retrapping processes may occur many times at a given bias current. The most evident signature of the phase diffusion phenomenon is the temperature dependence of the switching