Superconducting nanowire photon-number-resolving detector at telecommunication wavelengths

Abstract

Optical-to-electrical conversion, which is the basis of the operation of optical detectors, can be linear or nonlinear. When high sensitivities are needed, single-photon detectors are used, which operate in a strongly nonlinear mode, their response being independent of the number of detected photons. However, photon-number-resolving detectors are needed, particularly in quantum optics, where n-photon states are routinely produced. In quantum communication and quantum information processing, the photon-numberresolving functionality is key to many protocols, such as the implementation of quantum repeaters 1 and linear-optics quantum computing 2 . A linear detector with single-photon sensitivity can also be used for measuring a temporal waveform at extremely low light levels, such as in longdistance optical communications, fluorescence spectroscopy and optical time-domain reflectometry. We demonstrate here a photon-number-resolving detector based on parallel superconducting nanowires and capable of counting up to four photons at telecommunication wavelengths, with an ultralow dark count rate and high counting frequency.Among the approaches proposed so far for photon-numberresolving (PNR) detection (Table 1) are detectors based on charge integration or field-effect transistors 3-5 , which are, however, affected by long integration times, leading to bandwidths of ,1 MHz. Transition edge sensors 6 operate at 100 mK and show long response times (several microseconds). Approaches based on photomultipliers 7 and avalanche photodiodes, such as the visiblelight photon counter 8,9 , two-dimensional arrays of avalanche photodiodes 10,11 and time-multiplexed detectors 12,13 are not sensitive or are plagued by high dark count rates (DKs) and long dead times in the telecommunication spectral windows. Arrays of single-photon detectors (SPDs) also involve complex readout schemes 11 or separate contacts, amplification and discrimination 14. The parallel nanowire detector (PND) presented here significantly outperforms these approaches in terms of simplicity, sensitivity, speed and multiplication noise.The basic structure of the PND comprises the parallel connection of N superconducting nanowires, each connected in series to a resistor R 0 (Fig.

Current-Phase Relationship, Thermal and Quantum Phase Slips in Superconducting Nanowires Made on a Scaffold Created Using Adhesive Tape

“…Superconducting nanowires (SNWs) have acquired a lot of attention recently due to their potential application in photon detectors [ 5 ] and in quantum bits [ 1,2 ]. The fundamental interest in SNWs is motivated by the observation of quantum phase slip (QPS) in them [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ].…”

Long, Highly-Ordered High-Temperature Superconductor Nanowire Arrays

“…The very low T c (typically below liquid helium temperature) limits their potential applications as zero-electrical resistance conductors or active components in nanoelectronic circuits. [8][9][10][11][12] In comparison, the short (∼1 nm) that characterizes high-temperature superconductor (HTS) materials 13 may reduce the influence on superconductivity of phase slip processes in HTS NWs, and the expected significantly higher T c should uniquely enable applications of HTS NW materials.However, achieving high-temperature superconductivity in NWs requires achieving the correct stoichiometry and the correct perovskite-like crystal structures of the HTS materials. This renders many superconductor NW fabrication methods 1,5,6,14,15 inapplicable, and so little has been reported in this area.…”

Practical photon number detection with electric field-modulated silicon avalanche photodiodes

“…In combination with parametric down-conversion sources, photon number detection can also be used for the generation and conditioning of photonic Fock states 10 , as well as more complex quantum light states 11 . Furthermore, many applications beyond pure quantum information processing, such as quantum imaging 12 , tomography 13,14 and interferometry 15 , have been suggested to require error-free photon number detection, and extensive efforts [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] have therefore been devoted to developing photon number resolving detectors.…”

“…Currently, most of the approaches to photon number detection [16][17][18][19][20] require cryogenic cooling, and thus do not address the need for a practical and scalable number resolving detector. In contrast, avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are a mature technology for single-photon detection, which operate close to room temperature, can be fabricated using standard semiconductor processing techniques and are ideal for integration into solid state quantum information processors.…”