A hybrid superconductor-normal metal electron trap as a photon detector

A single-electron trap built with two superconductor-insulator-normal metal tunnel junctions and coupled to a readout SINIS-type single-electron transistor A (SET A) was studied in a photon detection regime. As a source of photon irradiation, we used an operating second SINIS-type SET B positioned in the vicinity of the trap. In the experiment, the average hold time of the trap was found to be critically dependent on the voltage across SET B. Starting in a certain voltage range, a photon-assisted electron escape was observed at a rate roughly proportional to the emission rate of the photons with energies exceeding the superconducting gap of S-electrodes in the trap. The discussed mechanism of photon emission and detection is of interest for low-temperature noise spectrometry, and it can be of relevance for the ampere standard based on hybrid SINIS turnstiles. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4729417]