Photon-activated electron hopping in a single-electron trap enhanced by Josephson radiation

Journal article, 2016

Using a Josephson junction interferometer (DC SQUID) as a microwave source for irradiating a single-electron trap, both devices fabricated on the same chip, we study the process of photon-assisted tunneling as an effective mechanism of single photon detection. High sensitivity down to a very small oscillation amplitude v(J) similar to 10 nV << E-act less than or similar to hf(J) and down to low photon absorption rates Gamma(ph) similar to (1-50) Hz, as well as a clear threshold type of operation with an activation energy E-act similar to 400 mu eV, is demonstrated for the trap with respect to the microwave photons of frequency f(J) similar to (100-200) GHz. Tunable generation is demonstrated with respect to the power and frequency of the microwave signal produced by the SQUID source biased within the subgap voltage range. A much weaker effect is observed at the higher junction voltages along the quasiparticle branch of the I-V curve; this response mostly appears due to the recombination phonons.