Semiempirical Modeling of Dark Count Rate and Quantum Efficiency of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors

Akhlaghi, Mohsen K.; Majedi, A. Hamed

doi:10.1109/tasc.2009.2018846

Cited by 18 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In addition, the hotspot formation probability at a low current is strongly superlinear. It is wellknown that at relatively low values of the bias current I b , multiphoton processes dominate the detector sensitivity [34,51,52]. Here we demonstrate that this effect becomes extreme during the normal recovery time after a photon detection.…”

Section: A Physicssupporting

confidence: 52%

Controlling a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector using tailored bright illumination

et al. 2011

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We experimentally demonstrate that a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector is deterministically controllable by bright illumination. We found that bright light can temporarily make a large fraction of the nanowire length normally-conductive, can extend deadtime after a normal photon detection, and can cause a hotspot formation during the deadtime with a highly nonlinear sensitivity. In result, although based on different physics, the superconducting detector turns out to be controllable by virtually the same techniques as avalanche photodiode detectors. As demonstrated earlier, when such detectors are used in a quantum key distribution system, this allows an eavesdropper to launch a detector control attack to capture the full secret key without being revealed by to many errors in the key.

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Section: A Physicssupporting

confidence: 52%

Controlling a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector using tailored bright illumination

et al. 2011

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“…For the detector under study in this paper, this formalism completely describes the response of the detector. In contrast to earlier methods [19,20] that assume a priori knowledge of the underlying detector physics, detector characterization based on the POVM formalism can be applied to any detector system without making assumptions about the operating principle of the detector [3,4]. Therefore, the strength of the characterization applied here is that we can extract model-independent parameters that can be used to gain insight in the physics of photon detection with NbN detectors.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modified detector tomography technique applied to a superconducting multiphoton nanodetector

Renema¹,

Frucci²,

Zhou³

et al. 2012

Opt. Express

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Abstract:We present an experimental method to characterize multiphoton detectors with a small overall detection efficiency. We do this by separating the nonlinear action of the multiphoton detection event from linear losses in the detector. Such a characterization is a necessary step for quantum information protocols with single and multiphoton detectors and can provide quantitative information to understand the underlying physics of a given detector. This characterization is applied to a superconducting multiphoton nanodetector, consisting of an NbN nanowire with a bowtie-shaped subwavelength constriction. Depending on the bias current, this detector has regimes with single and multiphoton sensitivity. We present the first full experimental characterization of such a detector. Berggren, "Photon-number-resolution with sub-30-ps timing using multi-element superconducting nanowire single photon detectors," J. Mod. Optic. 56, 13 (2008).

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“…However, note that any superlinear detector response must be handled in the security proof. Therefore, the reported data on SSPDs [36,48] clearly shows that such a security proof is necessary for QKD systems using SSPDs.…”

Section: Superlinearity Of Superconducting Single Photon Detectorsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Superlinear threshold detectors in quantum cryptography

et al. 2011

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We introduce the concept of a superlinear threshold detector, a detector that has a higher probability to detect multiple photons if it receives them simultaneously rather than at separate times. Highly superlinear threshold detectors in quantum key distribution systems allow eavesdropping the full secret key without being revealed. Here, we generalize the detector control attack, and analyze how it performs against quantum key distribution systems with moderately superlinear detectors. We quantify the superlinearity in superconducting single-photon detectors based on earlier published data, and gated avalanche photodiode detectors based on our own measurements. The analysis shows that quantum key distribution systems using detector(s) of either type can be vulnerable to eavesdropping. The avalanche photodiode detector becomes superlinear toward the end of the gate. For systems expecting substantial loss, or for systems not monitoring loss, this would allow eavesdropping using trigger pulses containing less than 120 photons per pulse. Such an attack would be virtually impossible to catch with an optical power meter at the receiver entrance

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Semiempirical Modeling of Dark Count Rate and Quantum Efficiency of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors

Cited by 18 publications

References 17 publications

Controlling a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector using tailored bright illumination

Controlling a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector using tailored bright illumination

Modified detector tomography technique applied to a superconducting multiphoton nanodetector

Superlinear threshold detectors in quantum cryptography

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