PhD thesis High temperature superconductors for single photon detection (H/F)

Presentation of the École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris
The École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI Paris) is the leading French engineering school in the Shanghai ranking.
Distinguished by 6 Nobel prizes, it combines excellent research (1 publication per day), innovation (1 patent per week, 3 start-ups per year) and interdisciplinary training through research.
It hosts 400 engineering students, 600 researchers in 9 joint research units and approximately 100 research and teaching support staff.

Position’s attachment
The position will be attached to the Laboratory of Physics and Study of Materials. The person recruited will report to Cheryl Feuillet-Palma and Dimitri Roditchev.

Tasks and responsabilities
The PhD project aims to develop a new kind of ultra-fast superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors operating around 40 K. To do so, SSPDs will be made of two high temperature superconductors (i) YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) and (ii) Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+x (BiSCCO).

Using commercial high-temperature critical film, we have developed a powerful technique to structures High-Temperature Superconducting films at the nanoscale combining advanced electron-beam lithography with ion irradiation technique. Recently, we measured the largest voltage switch reported so far for HTS nanowires ( 1 V), which is comparable to low Tc based meanders response. We will reduce further the nanowire cross-section to optimize the energy transfer from the incident photon to the nanowire. We will work with our commercial thin film supplier Ceraco to get high quality capped YBCO films with thickness well below 30 nm. Nanofabrication will be carried out using an electron beam lithography available at ESPCI Paris.

In parallel, we will structure a high-temperature critical film monolayer in BISCCO whose superconductivity can be controlled by an electric field effect. We will study two types of BiSCCO devices. Either by combining both Van Der Waals heterostructure and anodic bonding technique or by combining anodic bonding on a pre-structured substrate, we will produce nanowires whose critical temperature can be controlled by field effect. The device will be electrically characterized at low frequency (see I-V curves figure 3), cryogenic temperatures, under magnetic field and in the presence of radio frequency excitation for different doping. Then, the optical excitation of the device using an optical fiber and a laser will allow the study of the response of the nanowire to photons, in the presence of a magnetic field. This new generation of device offers a unique opportunity to explore the physics of field-doped high-temperature superconductor-based nanowires as a single photon detector.

Profile
Knowledge and skills required :
– Formation required (or diploma) : Motivated student with a solid background in fundamental physics (Master 2 in condensed matter, quantum physics, materials, nanosciences...) and attracted by experimental physics.

– Experience : Techniques used electronic transport, nano-fabrication (optical and electronic lithography, etching, deposition...), optics (optical fibre, optical cavity...), microwave instrumentation, cryogenics.

Terms of recruitment
Category : A

The post is to be filled :

– by contract for a period of three years for non-tenured staff.

Post to be filled from : 14 November 2022

Contact
Applications (CV, covering letter) should be sent by e-mail to : cheryl.palma@espci.fr

For further information, please contact
Feuillet-Palma Cheryl
Tél 00 33 1 40 79 44 01
Courriel : cheryl.palma@espci.fr

Place
10, Rue Vauquelin 75005 Paris
Métro ligne 7 (Place Monge/Censier Daubenton) - RER B (Luxembourg) - Bus 21, 27 & 47 - 3 Vélib’ stations à proximité.