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An analysis of different strategies for increasing the maximum count rate of superconducting single photon detectors using parallel nanowires is performed with particular emphasis on the expected behaviour when the detector area is increased. We find that for a serial connection of blocks of parallel nanowires, the maximum count rate decreases with the square root of the detector area, whereas it decreases proportional to the detector area for current meandered detectors. Using this design we estimate that a signal pulse falltime of 7.8 ns for a 84 × 84 µm2 parallel detector based on current material parameters should be obtainable. We argue that the slow decrease of count rate with detector area might permit detectors based on parallel nanowires to fully exploit the available cooling power.

Nonequilibrium superconducting detectors exploit the early stages of the energy down cascade which occur after the absorption of radiation. They operate on a short temporal scale ranging from few microseconds down to tens of picoseconds. In such a way they provide fast counting capability, high time discrimination and also, for some devices, energy sensitivity. Nonequilibrium superconducting detectors are developed for their use both in basic science and in practical applications for detection of single photons or single ionized macromolecules. In this paper we consider two devices: distributed readout imaging detectors (DROIDs) based on superconducting tunnel junctions (STJs), which are typically used for high-speed energy spectroscopy applications, and hot-electron superconductive detectors (HESDs), which are typically used as fast counters and time discriminators. Implementation of the DROID geometry to use a single superconductor is discussed. Progress in the fabrication technology of NbN nanostructured HESDs is presented. The two detectors share the high sensitivity that makes them able to efficiently detect even single photons down to infrared energy.

The development of a superconductive detector for simultaneous measurement of energy and arrival time is reported. The detector consists of two superconducting tunnel junctions coupled through a passive network. The first junction operates in the quasi-particle regime and measures the energy absorbed by counting the total charge that tunnels. The second junction uses the DC Josephson effect to act as a fast discriminator for the onset of surplus current in the first junction. The feasibility of the detector is demonstrated through simultaneous time and energy measurements of 6 keV X-rays. A model of the detector is presented and numerical simulations show good correspondence with experimental data.

Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors have been realized using an innovative photon induced cascade switch of parallel nanowires. We demonstrate that this configuration allows, at the same time, a fast response and a large active area, with the additional advantage of signal pulses with a larger signal to noise ratio. These improvements are obtained maintaining the good quantum efficiency of traditional meandered superconducting detectors. We show that due to the high speed of the parallel nanowire detector special attention is needed to avoid latching, a phenomenon which in the parallel nanowire detector degrades the detector efficiency. We describe how the latching problem can be avoided using a proper nanowire configuration.