Tantalum nitride superconducting single-photon detectors with low cut-off energy

Materials with a small superconducting energy gap are expected to favor a high detection efficiency of low-energy photons in superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. We developed a TaN detector with smaller gap and lower density of states at the Fermi energy than in comparable NbN devices, while other relevant parameters remain essentially unchanged. The observed reduction of the minimum photon energy required for direct detection is in line with model predictions of approximate to 1/3 as compared to NbN. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3684243]