We experimentally demonstrate the single photon detection in straight micrometer-wide NbN and α-MoSi bridges. Width of the bridges is 2 μm, while the wavelength of the photon changes from 408 to 1550 nm and critical current exceeds 50% of the depairing current. Obtained results offer the alternative route for design of detectors without resonator and meander structure and indirectly confirm vortex assisted mechanism of single photon detection.@en

We study, theoretically, the single-photon response of a strongly disordered thin superconducting strip in the flux flow state. We find that this resistive state, at a current I larger than the critical current Ic, jumps to the normal state by the absorption of a single optical photon. The absorbed photon creates a beltlike region with suppressed superconductivity and fast moving Josephson-like vortices across the strip. The formed Josephson-like link is not stable in such a superconductor and evolves into a normal domain which expands along the length of the superconducting strip, leading to the transition to the normal state.@en

We demonstrate experimentally that single-photon detection can be achieved in micrometer-wide NbN bridges, with widths ranging from 0.53 to 5.15 μm and for photon wavelengths of 408 to 1550 nm. The microbridges are biased with a dc current close to the experimental critical current, which is estimated to be about 50% of the theoretically expected depairing current. These results offer an alternative to the standard superconducting single-photon detectors, based on nanometer-scale nanowires implemented in a long meandering structure. The results are consistent with improved theoretical modeling based on the theory of nonequilibrium superconductivity, including the vortex-assisted mechanism of initial dissipation.@en