Measuring weak microwave signals via current-biased Josephson Junctions II: Arriving at single-photon detection sensitivity

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that a non-equilibrium current-biased Josephson junction can achieve single-photon microwave detection sensitivity, outperforming equilibrium configurations by reducing thermal noise effects through rapid non-adiabatic driving.

Contribution

It introduces a non-equilibrium JTD approach for microwave photon detection, showing enhanced sensitivity and robustness against thermal noise compared to equilibrium methods.

Findings

Non-equilibrium JTD can reach the energy quantum limit for detection.

Rapid non-adiabatic driving reduces thermal noise influence.

Performance metrics like bandwidth and photon-number resolution are estimated.

Abstract

It is well known that the current-biased Josephson junction (CBJJ) can serve as a Josephson threshold detector (JTD) for the sensitive detection of weak microwave signals. Based on the recent work (PRB {\bf 111}, 024501 (2025)) on the detection sensitive limit of the usual equilibrium JTD, here we numerically demonstrate that a non-equilibrium JTD can be alternatively utilized to implement the higher sensitive detection of a weak microwave signal, arriving at its energy quantum limit. In the presence of thermal noise, we numerically simulate the phase dynamics for the CBJJ in the JTD with the different sweep rates of the biased currents, and find that the SCDs of the JTD with and without the microwave signal input show different behaviors. It is demonstrated that, depending on how high the sweep rate of the biased current being applied, the JTD can be operated in either the equilibrium- or the non-equilibrium state. Specifically, under the rapidly non-adiabatic driving, the SCDs of the JTD are obviously insensitive to the thermal noises, which means that the non-equilibrium JTD can possess a higher achievable detection sensitivity, compared with its equilibrium state counterpart. Consequently, the non-equilibrium JTD can be utilized to implement the desired single microwave-photon detection. Also, some of the achievable performance indexes, such as the dynamic range, detection bandwidth, and the photon-number resolvability, etc., of the non-equilibrium JTD have been estimated, when it serves as a wideband microwave single-photon detector.