Critical-current reduction in thin superconducting wires due to current crowding

We demonstrate experimentally that the critical current in superconducting NbTiN wires is dependent on their geometrical shape, due to current-crowding effects. Geometric patterns such as 90? corners and sudden expansions of wire width are shown to result in the reduction of critical currents. The results are relevant for single-photon detectors...

Electrothermal simulation of superconducting nanowire avalanche photodetectors

We developed an electrothermal model of NbN superconducting nanowire avalanche photodetectors (SNAPs) on sapphire substrates. SNAPs are single-photon detectors consisting of the parallel connection of N superconducting nanowires. We extrapolated the physical constants of the model from experimental data and we simulated the time evolution of the...