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Stroboscopic detection of itinerant microwave photons

Hanna Zeller1,*, Lukas Danner2,1, Max Hofheinz3, Ciprian Padurariu1, Joachim Ankerhold1, and Björn Kubala2,1

  • *Contact author: hanna.zeller@uni-ulm.de
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033145 – Published 5 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/xnm9-98cm

Abstract

We present a scheme to detect itinerant microwave radiation at the single photon level. Using existing Josephson-photonics devices, where two microwave cavities are coupled by a dc-voltage-biased superconducting junction, we theoretically show how to implement a stroboscopically repeated, near-projective measurement of a photon impinging on one of the cavities. Optimizing rate, duration, and strength of the measurement by flux control of the junction and developing a threshold protocol to detect the photon from a homodyne measurement of the radiation output of the other cavity, we achieve highly efficient detection with low dark counts. By cascading the detector with a preamplifier, where a similar two-cavity Josephson-photonics device acts as a photon multiplier, we can further improve the device to reach a detection efficiency of 88.5% with a dark count rate of ∼10−4γa, set by the resonance width γa of the absorbing cavity. These results for a preamplification factor of 2 suggest that higher preamplification factors may yield near-unity efficiencies.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 033145– Published 5 August, 2026
  • Received 18 March 2026
  • Accepted 24 June 2026
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