Transport properties of ultrathin YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ nanowires: a route to single photon detection

Abstract

We report on the growth and characterization of ultrathin YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ (YBCO) films on MgO (110) substrates, which exhibit superconducting properties at thicknesses down to 3 nm. YBCO nanowires, with thicknesses down to 10 nm and widths down to 65 nm, have been also successfully fabricated. The nanowires protected by a Au capping layer show superconducting properties close to the as-grown films, and critical current densities, which are only limited by vortex dynamics. The 10 nm thick YBCO nanowires without the Au capping present hysteretic current voltage characteristics, characterized by a voltage switch which drives the nanowires directly from the superconducting to the normal state. Such bistability is associated in NbN nanowires to the presence of localized normal domains within the superconductor. The presence of the voltage switch, in ultrathin nanostructures characterized by high sheet resistance values, though preserving high quality superconducting properties, make our nanowires very attractive devices to engineer single photon detectors.

arXiv comment12 pages, 8 figures

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Cited by in corpus (12)

• Dynamical charge density fluctuations pervading the phase diagram of a Cu-based high-Tc superconductor
• Restored strange metal phase through suppression of charge density waves in underdoped YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$
• Probing the phase diagram of cuprates with YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ thin films and nanowires
• Experimental evidence for hotspot and phase-slip mechanisms of voltage switching in ultra-thin YBa2Cu3O7-x nanowires
• Properties of Grooved Dayem Bridge based YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices and Magnetometers
• Fabrication and electrical transport characterization of high quality underdoped YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ nanowires
• Untwinned YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ thin films on MgO substrates: a platform to study strain effects on the local orders in cuprates
• Transport properties of ultrathin BaFe1.84Co0.16As2 superconducting nanowires
• Mapping the phase diagram of a YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ nanowire through electromigration
• Engineering underdoped CuO${}_2$ nanoribbons in nm-thick $a$-axis YBa${}_2$Cu${}_3$O${}_{7-\delta }$ films
• Bridging Superconductors with UN Development Goals: Perspectives and Applications
• Ab initio modeling of nonequilibrium dynamics in superconducting detectors and qubits