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7Superconducting niobium diselenide NbSe2: a promising material for broadband frequency detection applications
K.V. Shein1'2*. E. Zharkov3, A. Lyubchak12, G.N. Goltsman12, I. Charaev4. I. Gayduchenko1. D.A. Bandurin3'5
1- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia 101000 2- Physics Department, Moscow Pedagogical State University, Russian Federation, 119435 3- Programmable Functional Materials Lab, Brain and Consciousness Research Center, Moscow,
Russian Federation, 121205 4- University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland, 8057 5- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117575
Two-dimensional (2D) materials represent a promising platform for the next generation of electronics and optoelectronics due to their distinctive properties. These properties include the capability to fabricate unique heterostructures and ultra-thin devices with exceptionally low heat capacities. Of particular interest are two-dimensional superconducting devices, which exhibit superconductivity down to the monolayer limit. These devices offer numerous technological advantages, such as the elimination of the need for costly magnetron sputtering processes and the facilitation of easy integration with other 2D structures. One notable material in this domain is niobium diselenide (NbSe2). This material not only demonstrates intriguing transport characteristics, such as the superconducting diode effect [1] and charged density waves [2], but it has also shown considerable promise in optoelectronic applications [3-5]. In prior work [3], we demonstrated that superconducting NbSe2 exhibits a substantial optical response at frequencies of 0.13 THz and 2.5 THz, with optical responsivity of 3 kV/W and a response time on the order of tens of nanoseconds. It is hypothesized that by reducing the NbSe2 flake thickness to 2-3 atomic layers and optimizing the substrate selection, the sensitivity and performance of such a bolometer could be enhanced by more than an order of magnitude. Furthermore, NbSe2 has proven to be a highly sensitive photodetector at near infrared wavelength range, exhibiting at 5 K noise equivalent power (NEP) characteristic 32 fW/Hz05 at the wavelength X = 1550 nm [4] and high sensitivity reaches 42.3 A/W at 3.8 K under X = 72 nm [5]. These findings indicate that superconducting NbSe2 holds significant potential as the foundation for a new generation of quantum detectors spanning a wide frequency range, with prospects for the development of superconducting single-photon detectors and integration into photonic circuits.
The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (project 23-72-00014).
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