Abstract

Compact, low power, robust closed-cycle cooling platforms are a key requirement for emerging low temperature quantum technologies. We have repurposed a 4 K Stirling/Joule-Thomson cooler built for the Planck space mission into a flexible demonstration system. We have verified a cooling power of 4mW at 4.7K. We have installed a fibre-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detector in this platform and deployed it for two key advanced infrared photon counting applications: single-photon LIDAR and dosimetry for laser cancer treatment. We discuss proposed improvements to the Stirling cooler design for increased cooling power, manufacturability and turn-key operation.

Details

Title
A compact 4 K cooling system for superconducting nanowire single photon detectors
Author
Hills, M J 1 ; Bradshaw, T W 1 ; Dobrovolskiy, S 2 ; Dorenbos, S N 2 ; Gemmell, N R 3 ; Green, B 1 ; Heath, R M 4 ; Rawlings, T 1 ; Tsimvrakidis, K 4 ; Zwiller, V 5 ; Crook, M R 1 ; Hadfield, R H 4 

 STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Harwell Campus, Didcot, OX11 0QX, United Kingdom 
 Single Quantum B.V., 2628 CH Delft, Netherlands 
 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton, BN 1 9RH, United Kingdom 
 School of Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, United Kingdom 
 Single Quantum B.V., 2628 CH Delft, Netherlands; Department of Applied Physics, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden 
Publication year
2019
Publication date
Apr 2019
Publisher
IOP Publishing
ISSN
17578981
e-ISSN
1757899X
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2560950776
Copyright
© 2019. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.