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Niobium nanowires are nanowires made of the element niobium, which is a transition metal. Niobium nanowires in form oxide or nitride are used to detect single photons at low temperatures. The superconducting nanowire single-photon detector is an example of something made from these nano-structured materials.
References
C. M. Natarajan, M. G. Tanner, and R. H. Hadfield, "Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors: physics and applications", Superconductor Science and Technology25, 063001 (2012), doi:10.1088/0953-2048/25/6/063001, arXiv:1204.5560