{"id":4074,"date":"2026-06-12T11:37:48","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/?p=4074"},"modified":"2026-06-12T11:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T09:41:46","slug":"fast-and-continuous-detection-of-single-microwave-photons-in-a-superconducting-quantum-circuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/fast-and-continuous-detection-of-single-microwave-photons-in-a-superconducting-quantum-circuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Fast and Continuous Detection of Single Microwave Photons in a Superconducting Quantum Circuit"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We demonstrate a single-photon detector operating in the microwave domain, based on photoassisted quasiparticle tunneling events that poison a superconducting island. The detection relies on continuously monitoring the island\u2019s charge parity using microwave reflectometry. This scheme achieves 10% detection efficiency with sub 50&nbsp;ns time resolution and short dead time (\u223c1\u2009\u2009\u03bcs), for microwave photons at 10&nbsp;GHz. The detector features three junctions connected to a superconducting island, which together carry out photoelectric conversion and charge readout. The enhanced light-matter coupling, crucial to photon-to-quasiparticle conversion, is provided by a granular aluminum-based high-impedance microwave resonator. The time-resolved detection of itinerant microwave photon opens up new perspectives in quantum sensing, microwave quantum optics, and mesoscopic physics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"703\" src=\"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/06\/FigOutreach_PRL_ES-1-1024x703.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-4078\" srcset=\"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/06\/FigOutreach_PRL_ES-1-1024x703.png 1024w, https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/06\/FigOutreach_PRL_ES-1-300x206.png 300w, https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/06\/FigOutreach_PRL_ES-1-768x527.png 768w, https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/06\/FigOutreach_PRL_ES-1-1536x1054.png 1536w, https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2026\/06\/FigOutreach_PRL_ES-1.png 1628w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Electron microscope image of the device featuring a superconducting island connected to 3 tunnel junctions for photo-electric conversion (orange wiggle turning into a quasiparticle) and time-resolved readout (telegraph signal in inset).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Reference<\/strong><br>Fast and Continuous Detection of Single Microwave Photons via Photoassisted Quasiparticle Tunneling to a Superconducting Island<br> J. Basset, O. Stanisavljevi\u0107, J. Gabelli, M. Aprili,  and J. Est\u00e8ve<br>Phys. Rev. Lett. <strong>136<\/strong>, 237001 (2026) Editor&rsquo;s suggestion<br>doi:<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1103\/mj91-ntm4\"> https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1103\/PhysRevLett.133.076302<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Contact<\/strong><br>Julien Basset, J\u00e9r\u00f4me Est\u00e8ve<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We demonstrate a single-photon detector operating in the microwave domain, based on photoassisted quasiparticle tunneling events that poison a superconducting island. The detection relies on continuously monitoring the island\u2019s charge &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":4075,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4074"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4080,"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4074\/revisions\/4080"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equipes.lps.u-psud.fr\/ns2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}