Quasiparticle recombination in hotspots in superconducting current-carrying nanowires

A. G. Kozorezov; C. Lambert; F. Marsili; M. J. Stevens; V. B. Verma; J. A. Stern; R. Horansky; S. Dyer; S. Duff; D. P. Pappas; A. Lita; M. D. Shaw; R. P. Mirin; Sae Woo Nam

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.92.064504

Quasiparticle recombination in hotspots in superconducting current-carrying nanowires

A. G. Kozorezov, C. Lambert, F. Marsili, M. J. Stevens, V. B. Verma, J. A. Stern, R. Horansky, S. Dyer, S. Duff, D. P. Pappas, A. Lita, M. D. Shaw, R. P. Mirin, Sae Woo Nam

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.92.064504 · Physical Review B

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Abstract

We describe a kinetic model of recombination of nonequilibrium quasiparticles generated by single photon absorption in superconducting current-carrying nanowires. The model is developed to interpret two-photon detection experiments in which a single photon does not possess sufficient energy for breaking superconductivity at a fixed low bias current. We show that quasiparticle self-recombination in relaxing hotspots dominates diffusion expansion effects and explains the observed strong bias current, wavelength, and temperature dependencies of hotspot relaxation in tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors.

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Formula	Reported Tc (K)	Pressure (GPa)	Type
NbN Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown
WSi Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula.	—	Pressure not reported	unknown