Multimode-fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors with high detection efficiency and time resolution

Jin, Chen; Zadeh, Iman Esmaeil; Los, Johannes W. N.; Zichi, Julien; Fognini, Andreas; Gevers, Monique; Dorenbos, Sander N.; Pereira, Silvania F.; Urbach, Paul; Zwiller, Val

doi:10.1364/ao.58.009803

Cited by 24 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Meanwhile, owing to the broadband background radiation transmitted by the MMF coupling, a significantly raised DCR was observed, which can be suppressed using cold narrowband filters, e.g., a MMF-coupled filter bench [34]. Through Gaussian fitting, TJ of ~50 ps at I b = 95 µA is obtained, which is slightly different compared to that of the SMF coupling due to the fiber-associated dispersion in optical signal transmission in MMF [35].…”

Section: Measurements and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Superconducting microstrip single-photon detector with system detection efficiency over 90% at 1550 nm

Zhang

You

et al. 2021

Photon. Res.

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Generally, a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) is composed of wires with a typical width of ~100 nm. Recent studies have found that superconducting stripes with a micrometer-scale width can also detect single photons. Compared with the SNSPD, the superconducting microstrip single-photon detector (SMSPD) has smaller kinetic inductance, higher working current, and lower requirement in fabrication accuracy, providing potential applications in the development of ultra-large active area detectors. However, the study on SMSPD is still in its infancy, and the realization of its highperformance and practical use remains an opening question. This study demonstrates a NbN SMSPD with a saturated system detection efficiency (SDE) of ~92.2% at a dark count rate of ~200 cps, a polarization sensitivity of ~1.03, and a timing jitter of ~48 ps, at the telecom wavelength of 1550 nm when coupled with a single mode fiber and operated at 0.84 K. Furthermore, the detector's SDE is over 70% when operated at a 2.1-K closed-cycle cryocooler.

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Section: Measurements and Resultsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Superconducting microstrip single-photon detector with system detection efficiency over 90% at 1550 nm

Zhang

You

et al. 2021

Photon. Res.

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“…Another promising detector type for intensity interferometry are superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) due to their high quantum efficiency, low dead time, and high timing resolution, for which efficient coupling to multimode fibers has been demonstrated recently (see e.g. Chang et al (2019)). While SNSPDs are commercially avauliable, they would require effcient fiber coupling at the telescope, requiring high-grade optics.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing Different Approaches for Stellar Intensity Interferometry

Karl,

Zmija,

Richter

et al. 2022

Preprint

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Stellar intensity interferometers correlate photons within their coherence time and could overcome the baseline limitations of existing amplitude interferometers. Intensity interferometers do not rely on phase coherence of the optical elements and thus function without high grade optics and light combining delay lines. However, the coherence time of starlight observed with realistic optical filter bandwidths (> 0.1 nm) is usually much smaller than the time resolution of the detection system (> 10 ps), resulting in a greatly reduced correlation signal. Reaching high signal to noise in a reasonably short measurement time can be achieved in different ways: either by increasing the time resolution, which increases the correlation signal height, or by increasing the photon rate, which decreases statistical uncertainties of the measurement. We present laboratory measurements employing both approaches and directly compare them in terms of signal to noise ratio. A high time-resolution interferometry setup designed for small to intermediate size optical telescopes and thus lower photon rates (diameters < some meters) is compared to a setup capable of measuring high photon rates, which is planned to be installed at Cherenkov telescopes with dish diameters of > 10 m. We use a Xenon lamp as a common light source simulating starlight. Both setups measure the expected correlation signal and work at the expected shot-noise limit of statistical uncertainties for measurement times between 10 min and 23 h. We discuss the quantitative differences in the measurement results and give an overview of suitable operation regimes for each of the interferometer concepts.

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“…Therefore, sensors with large active areas are required. SNSPDs with large active areas have gained attention in the recent years and several works on single pixel [26][27][28][29] and multi-pixel devices [30][31][32] have been reported. Compared to Multi-pixel devices, Single-pixel large-area devices are less complex and require only one readout channel.…”

Section: Quantum Correlation With a Multi-pixel Snspdmentioning

confidence: 99%

A platform for high performance photon correlation measurements

Zadeh,

Los,

Gourgues

et al. 2020

Preprint

Self Cite

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A broad range of scientific and industrial disciplines require precise optical measurements at very low light levels. Single-photon detectors combining high efficiency and high time resolution are pivotal in such experiments. By using relatively thick films of and improving the pattern fidelity of the nano-structure of the superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD), we fabricated devices demonstrating superior performance over all previously reported detectors in the combination of efficiency and time resolution. Our findings prove that small variations in the nanowire width, in the order of a few nanometers, can lead to a significant penalty on their temporal response. Addressing these issues, we consistently achieved high time resolution (best device 7.7 ps, other devices ∼10-16 ps) simultaneously with high system detection efficiencies (80 − 90%) in the wavelength range of 780-1000 nm, as well as in the telecom bands (1310-1550 nm). The use of thicker films allowed us to fabricate large-area multi-pixel devices with homogeneous pixel performance. We first fabricated and characterized a 100 × 100 µm 2 16-pixel detector and showed there was little variation among individual pixels. Additionally, to showcase the power of our platform, we fabricated and characterized 4-pixel multimode fiber-coupled detectors and carried out photon correlation experiments on a nanowire quantum dot resulting in g 2 (0) values lower than 0.04. The multi-pixel detectors alleviate the need for beamsplitters and can be used for higher order correlations with promising prospects not only in the field of quantum optics, but also in bio-imaging applications, such as fluorescence microscopy and positron emission tomography.

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Multimode-fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors with high detection efficiency and time resolution

Cited by 24 publications

References 30 publications

Superconducting microstrip single-photon detector with system detection efficiency over 90% at 1550 nm

Superconducting microstrip single-photon detector with system detection efficiency over 90% at 1550 nm

Comparing Different Approaches for Stellar Intensity Interferometry

A platform for high performance photon correlation measurements

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