Timing jitter in photon detection by straight superconducting nanowires: Effect of magnetic field and photon flux

Sidorova, Mariia; Semenov, A.; Hübers, Heinz‐Wilhelm; Kuzmin, Artem; Doerner, Steffen; Ilin, K.; Siegel, M.; Charaev, Ilya; Vodolazov, D. Yu.

doi:10.1103/physrevb.98.134504

Cited by 23 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 39 publications

(67 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In a theoretical study, the transverse geometric jitter was investigated by considering the variation in detection latency as a function of the transverse location of photon absorption across the nanowire [23]. An experimental study of the jitter associated with meandered [24] and straight [25] nanowires found asymmetry in the jitter profile which was attributed to intrinsic effects, and more recently, an increase in timing jitter was measured in straight NbN nanowires with increasing magnetic field [26] which was qualitatively explained by the hotspot model [15]. The same model is used to study the effects of transverse position dependence on timing jitter [27].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intrinsic Timing Jitter and Latency in Superconducting Nanowire Single-photon Detectors

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We analyze the origin of the intrinsic timing jitter in superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) in terms of fluctuations in the latency of the detector response, which is determined by the microscopic physics of the photon detection process. We demonstrate that fluctuations in the physical parameters which determine the latency give rise to the intrinsic timing jitter. We develop a general description of latency by introducing the explicit time dependence of the internal detection efficiency. By considering the dynamic Fano fluctuations together with static spatial inhomogeneities, we study the details of the connection between latency and timing jitter. We develop both a simple phenomenological model and a more general microscopic model of detector latency and timing jitter based on the solution of the generalized time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations for the 1D hotbelt geometry. While the analytical model is sufficient for qualitative interpretation of recent data, the general approach establishes the framework for a quantitative analysis of detector latency and the fundamental limits of intrinsic timing jitter. These theoretical advances can be used to interpret the results of recent experiments measuring the dependence of detection latency and timing jitter on photon energy to the few-picosecond level.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intrinsic Timing Jitter and Latency in Superconducting Nanowire Single-photon Detectors

et al. 2019

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In our present study we evaluate the geometrical contribution to the system jitter in a straight nanowire with the topology similar to the one reported in Ref. [2]. Furthermore, we show that large photon flux reduces drastically the geometrical contribution to the system jitter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 52%

“…3b shows a typical T + histogram recorded at the lower light intensity and the best fit with the exponentially modified Gaussian distribution described in Ref. [2] .…”

Section: A Triggering Noise Jitter T − and T + Jittermentioning

confidence: 82%

Geometrical Jitter and Bolometric Regime in Photon Detection by Straight Superconducting Nanowire

Kuzmin

Doerner

Sidorova

et al. 2019

IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We present a direct observation of the geometrical jitter in single photon detection by a straight superconducting nanowire. Differential measurement technique was applied to the 180-µm long nanowire similar to those commonly used in the technology of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPD). A non-gaussian geometrical jitter appears as a wide almost uniform probability distribution (histogram) of the delay time (latency) of the nanowire response to detected photon. White electrical noise of the readout electronics causes broadened, Gaussian shaped edges of the histogram. Subtracting noise contribution, we found for the geometrical jitter a standard deviation of ≈8.5 ps and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the distribution of ≈29 ps. FWHM corresponds to the propagation speed of the electrical signal along the nanowire of ≈6.2×10 6 m/s or 0.02 of the speed of light. Alternatively the propagation speed was estimated from the central frequency of the measured first order self-resonance of the nanowire. Both values agree well with each other and with previously reported values. As the intensity of the incident photon flux increases, the wide probability distribution collapses into a much narrower Gaussian distribution with a standard deviation dominated by the noise of electronics. We associate the collapse of the histogram with the transition from the discrete, single photon detection to the uniform bolometric regime.

show abstract

“…Since Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) were introduced in 2001 [1], their performance has been dramatically improved to become the leading technology in single photon detection. Nowadays, SNSPDs offer outstanding performance, with system detection efficiencies of 80 -95 %, from the visible to the infrared [2][3][4][5], dark count rates in the mHz range [5,6], detection count rates up to 1.5 GHz [7], and timing jitter as low as < 10 ps [8][9][10]. High performance SNSPDs operating at 4 K and above, are particularly interesting due to the vast number of potential applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors operating at temperature from 4 to 7 K

Gourgues¹,

Los²,

Zichi³

et al. 2019

Opt. Express

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We experimentally investigate the performance of NbTiN superconducting nanowire single photon detectors above the base temperature of a conventional Gifford-McMahon cryocooler (2.5 K). By tailoring design and thickness (8 -13 nm) of the detectors, high performance, high operating temperature, single-photon detection from the visible to telecom wavelengths are demonstrated. At 4.3 K, a detection efficiency of 82 % at 785 nm wavelength and a timing jitter of 30 ± 0.3 ps are achieved. In addition, for 1550 nm and similar operating temperature we measured a detection efficiency as high as 64 %. Finally, we show that at temperatures up to 7 K, unity internal efficiency is maintained for the visible spectrum. Our work is particularly important to allow for the large scale implementation of superconducting single photon detectors in combination with heat sources such as free-space optical windows, cryogenic electronics, microwave sources and active optical components for complex quantum optical experiments and bio-imaging.

show abstract

Timing jitter in photon detection by straight superconducting nanowires: Effect of magnetic field and photon flux

Cited by 23 publications

References 39 publications

Intrinsic Timing Jitter and Latency in Superconducting Nanowire Single-photon Detectors

Intrinsic Timing Jitter and Latency in Superconducting Nanowire Single-photon Detectors

Geometrical Jitter and Bolometric Regime in Photon Detection by Straight Superconducting Nanowire

Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors operating at temperature from 4 to 7 K

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About