Detection of single-mode thermal microwave photons using an underdamped Josephson junction

A. L. Pankratov (), A. V. Gordeeva (), A. V. Chiginev, L. S. Revin, A. V. Blagodatkin, N. Crescini and L. S. Kuzmin
Additional contact information
A. L. Pankratov: Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University n.a. R. E. Alekseev
A. V. Gordeeva: Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University n.a. R. E. Alekseev
A. V. Chiginev: Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University n.a. R. E. Alekseev
L. S. Revin: Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University n.a. R. E. Alekseev
A. V. Blagodatkin: Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University n.a. R. E. Alekseev
N. Crescini: Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK)
L. S. Kuzmin: Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University n.a. R. E. Alekseev

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract When measuring electromagnetic radiation of frequency f, the most sensitive detector counts single quanta of energy hf. Single photon detectors have been demonstrated from γ-rays to infrared wavelengths, with ongoing efforts to extend their range to microwaves. Here we show that an underdamped Josephson junction can detect 14 GHz thermal photons, with energy 10 yJ or 50 μeV, stochastically emitted by a microwave copper cavity at millikelvin temperatures. After characterizing the source and the detector, we vary the cavity temperature and measure the photon rate. The device achieves 45% efficiency and a dark count rate of 0.1 Hz over several GHz. Demonstrated super-Poissonian photon statistics is a signature of thermal light and a hallmark of quantum chaos. We discuss applications in dark matter axion searches and note its relevance to quantum information and fundamental physics.

Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56040-4 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-56040-4

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56040-4

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().