Phys.org  June 2, 2021 An international team of researchers (USA – NIST, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, MIT, UK) has developed superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors based on tungsten silicide. To compensate for the lower energy carried by IR light they reduced the density of electrons in the wires that are available to absorb the photons. With fewer electrons available, the fraction of the total photon energy absorbed by any one electron is likely to be higher, increasing the likelihood that the electron would have enough energy to cross the superconducting gap and generate a signal when IR photons strike the detector. They […]