Reduced ITO for Transparent Superconducting Electronics

TL;DR

This paper explores the use of reduced indium tin oxide as a transparent superconductor to minimize optical absorption in superconducting electronics, potentially enabling better integration with optical components.

Contribution

It demonstrates the fabrication and characterization of reduced ITO superconducting wires and shows that thin films absorb significantly less light across relevant wavelengths.

Findings

Reduced ITO absorbs only 1-20% of light between 500-1700 nm.

Fabricated superconducting wires of reduced ITO successfully.

Potential for improved optical integration in superconducting circuits.

Abstract

Absorption of light in superconducting electronics is a major limitation on the quality of circuit architectures that integrate optical components with superconducting components. A 10 nm thick film of a typical superconducting material like niobium can absorb over half of any incident optical radiation. We propose instead using superconductors which are transparent to the wavelengths used elsewhere in the system. In this paper we investigated reduced indium tin oxide (ITO) as a potential transparent superconductor for electronics. We fabricated and characterized superconducting wires of reduced indium tin oxide. We also showed that a $\SI{10}{nm}$ thick film of the material would only absorb about 1 - 20\% of light between 500 - 1700 nm.