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Dark Count Suppression in Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors

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Abstract

One of the important performance parameters of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPD) is the dark count rate. Dark counts are related to thermally-activated hopping of magnetic vortices across the nanowire. We present an experimental analysis of how the thermal coupling of the NbN SNSPD to the heat sink affects the dark count rate. It was found that the rate decreases with the increase in coupling strength while the detection efficiency remains almost constant.

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Acknowledgements

The work is supported in part by DFG Center for Functional Nanostructures under sub-project A4.3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Mikro- und Nanoelektronische Systeme, KIT, Hertzstraße 16, Karlsruhe, Germany

    M. Hofherr, D. Rall, K. Il‘in & M. Siegel

  2. Institut für Planetenforschung, DLR, Rutherfordstr. 2, Berlin, Germany

    A. Semenov & H.-W. Hübers

  3. Institut für Optik und Atomare Physik, Technische Universität Berlin, Hardengberstr. 36, 10623, Berlin, Germany

    H.-W. Hübers

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  1. M. Hofherr
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  2. D. Rall
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  3. K. Il‘in
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  4. A. Semenov
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  5. H.-W. Hübers
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  6. M. Siegel
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Correspondence to M. Hofherr.

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Hofherr, M., Rall, D., Il‘in, K. et al. Dark Count Suppression in Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors. J Low Temp Phys 167, 822–826 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0495-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-012-0495-9

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