Sensitivity and gigahertz counting performance of NbN superconducting single-photon detectors

Korneev, A.; Kouminov, P.; Matvienko, V.I.; Chulkova, G.; Smirnov, K.; Voronov, B.; Gol’tsman, G.; Currie, Marc; Lo, Wai Hung; Wilsher, K.; Zhang, J.; Słysz, W.; Pearlman, Aaron; Verevkin, A.; Sobolewski, Roman

doi:10.1063/1.1764600

Cited by 177 publications

(135 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…This behaviour suggests that thermally activated fluctuations cause the formation of a resistive cross-section of the nanowire [41]. At sufficiently low bias currents one can often observe a cross-over to a constant or very slowly varying darkcount rate.…”

Section: Dark Countsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Detection mechanism of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors

Engel¹,

Renema²,

Ilin³

et al. 2015

Supercond. Sci. Technol.

149

111

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Abstract. In this paper we intend to give a comprehensive description of the current understanding of the detection mechanism in superconducting nanowire singlephoton detectors. We will review key experimental results related to the detection mechanism, e.g. the variations of the detection probability as a function of bias current, temperature or magnetic field. Commonly used detection models will be introduced and we will analyze their predictions in view of the experimental observations. Although none of the proposed detection models is able to describe all experimental data, it is becoming increasingly clear that vortices are essential for the formation of the initial normal-conducting domain that triggers a detection event.

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Section: Dark Countsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was realized early on that a reduction of the operation temperature of NbN SNSPD from ∼ 4 K to ∼ 2 K does not only reduce the dark-count rate, but also results in a down-shift of the threshold [41]. The downshift of the threshold continues to even lower temperatures well below 1 K [96].…”

Section: Temperature Dependence Of the Detection Thresholdmentioning

confidence: 99%

Detection mechanism of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors

Engel¹,

Renema²,

Ilin³

et al. 2015

Supercond. Sci. Technol.

149

111

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, SSPD meanders are biased with large currents. According to the standard detection models (3, 12) the biasing current density has to be a significant fraction of the critical depairing current density ie, typically 90% to 95% (12)(13)(14). This means that the magnetic self-field is of the order of the thermodynamic critical field at the edges of the bridge (Silsbee's rule, (15)) and may exceed Bm or even Bpen depending on the bridge width and aspect ratio.…”

Section: Reduction Of Edge-barrier Effects Due To Applied Currentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Magnetic vortices in superconducting photon detectors

Engel

Bartolf

Schilling

et al. 2009

Journal of Modern Optics

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We have measured critical-current densities in micro-and nanometer wide thin-film NbN bridges. These bridges show significant changes in the temperature dependence of the criticalcurrent density depending on the strip width. Taking into account the boundary conditions at the strip edges we can qualitatively describe our data applying a geometric edge-barrier model. We conclude that sub-1JDl wide bridges remain free of single vortices in ambient magnetic fields and at currents up to the depairing critical-current density. This also means that NbN meanders of superconducting single photon detectors should be free of single vortices under normal operating conditions.

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“…The most commonly used avalanche photo diodes have a time resolution of the order of hundreds of ps. However, new single-photon detectors based on superconductors can achieve a time resolution as fine as 18 ps [26]. We believe that realizing the proposed protocol with atoms is an interesting possibility that deserves further investigation.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Creating Single Time-Bin-Entangled Photon Pairs

Simon

Poizat

2005

Phys. Rev. Lett.

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When a single emitter is excited by two phase-coherent pulses with a time delay, each of the pulses can lead to the emission of a photon pair, thus creating a "time-bin entangled" state. Double pair emission can be avoided by initially preparing the emitter in a metastable state. We show how photons from separate emissions can be made indistinguishable, permitting their use for multi-photon interference. Possible realizations are discussed. The method might also allow the direct creation of n-photon entangled states (n > 2).The development of convenient sources of entangled photons is an important task in quantum information [1]. Entangled photons have been used to realize fundamental quantum information procedures such as quantum key distribution [2,3,4], quantum teleportation [5,6,7] and entanglement swapping [8]. The latter task is an essential element of quantum repeaters [9], which would allow the distribution of entanglement over very long distances. Recently entangled photons were also used to implement simple quantum logic gates [10].The standard source of entangled photons at the moment is parametric down-conversion [1], which is based on the conversion of pump photons into pairs of photons inside a non-linear optical crystal. An important drawback of downconversion sources is the fact that they cannot be made to produce exactly one pair of photons. They always generate a statistical distribution of pairs. If the probability to create a single pair with a given pump pulse is p, then there is a probability of order p 2 to create two or more pairs with the same pump pulse. This feature of down-conversion sources leads to limitations on their performance for various quantum information procedures, such as teleportation [11], quantum cryptography [12] and entanglement purification [13]. It would thus be very desirable to have a convenient source of individual pairs of entangled photons, where one can be sure that no more than one pair is emitted.A natural approach towards realizing such sources is to use photonic cascades from atoms or semiconductor quantum dots. Atomic cascades were used to produce polarizationentangled photons in the first tests of Bell inequalities [14]. Quantum dot sources are attractive because they are compact and can be fairly easily integrated into semiconductor microcavity structures to enhance the probability for emission of the photons into a well-defined mode. These features have recently been demonstrated for single-photon sources [15]. There is a recent proposal for a quantum dot source of single pairs of polarization entangled photons [16], based on the biexciton-exciton cascade. However, the generation of polarization entanglement with this source requires the two intermediate exciton states with different spin to be exactly degenerate, which is not the case for currently available quantum dots, due to their lack of exact rotational symmetry around the direction of growth. In consequence, current quantum dots can emit polarization-correlated, but not polarizationentangled, p...

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Sensitivity and gigahertz counting performance of NbN superconducting single-photon detectors

Cited by 177 publications

References 11 publications

Detection mechanism of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors

Detection mechanism of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors

Magnetic vortices in superconducting photon detectors

Creating Single Time-Bin-Entangled Photon Pairs

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