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arXiv:1811.09779

A 16-pixel NbN nanowire single photon detector coupled with 300 micrometer fiber

Qi Henry Chen, Biao Zhang, Labao Zhang, Ge, Rui, Ruiying Xu, Yang Wu, Xuecou Tu, Xiaoqing Jia, Lin Kang, Jian Chen, Peiheng Wu

Published Nov 24, 2018• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Niobium Nitride (NbN) nanowire is the most popular detection material of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) for high repetition rate and high efficiency. However, it has been assumed to be difficult for fabricating SNSPDs with arrays over large area, which are critical components of quantum imaging, linear optical quantum computing, satellite laser ranging, and high-speed quantum key distribution. This paper reported a 4*4 pixel NbN SNSPDs array with an equivalent receiving aperture of 300 micrometer associated with beam compression technology, which is the first NbN SNSPD coupled by 300 micrometer fiber according to our knowledge. The designed pixel was compact with a filling factor of 98.5%, resulting in a high quantum efficiency of 94.5%, a system efficiency of 46% for photons coupled from 300 micrometer fiber without optimizing polarization, and a system time resolution of 92 ps. This work demonstrates the feasibility of a large SNSPDs array, and paves the way for developing efficient photon camera with NbN nanowires.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1811.09779

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Niobium Nitride (NbN) nanowire is the most popular detection material of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) for high repetition rate and high efficiency. However, it has been assumed to be difficult for fabricating SNSPDs with arrays over large area, which are critical components of quantum imaging, linear optical quantum computing, satellite laser ranging, and high-speed quantum key distribution. This paper reported a 4*4 pixel NbN SNSPDs array with an equivalent receiving aperture of 300 micrometer associated with beam compression technology, which is the first NbN SNSPD coupled by 300 micrometer fiber according to our knowledge. The designed pixel was compact with a filling factor of 98.5%, resulting in a high quantum efficiency of 94.5%, a system efficiency of 46% for photons coupled from 300 micrometer fiber without optimizing polarization, and a system time resolution of 92 ps. This work demonstrates the feasibility of a large SNSPDs array, and paves the way for developing efficient photon camera with NbN nanowires.
Niobium nitride (NbN) nanowires have a high repetition rate and efficiency, making them ideal for superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs). However, it is difficult to fabricate NbN arrays over large areas, which is critical for various applications. This paper describes a 4 × 4 NbN SNSPD array (16 pixels) and optical coupling with a 300-μm-diameter multimode fiber using beam compression technology. This is the first NbN SNSPD coupled with such large-diameter fibers. The designed pixels are positioned as closely as possible (pixel filling factor about 98.5%), almost without dead area between them. This results in a system efficiency of 46% and a quantum efficiency of 94.5% for photons (λ = 1064 nm) coupled from multimode fibers. An intrinsic time resolution of less than 69 ps can be obtained. The proposed high-performance single photon detector is suitable for satellite laser ranging. Furthermore, the proposed system is feasible for large SNSPD arrays with NbN, paving the way for the development of efficient photon cameras with NbN nanowires.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) with both an ultra-large-active area and a high count rate (CR) are challenging from the design and fabrication. Here, we develop a NbN SNSPD with a circular active area of 300 μm-in-diameter and use multiple approaches to boost the maximal count rate (MCR). This large-active-area SNSPD is divided into nine pixels (parts). Each pixel consists of serially connected two superconducting nanowire avalanche photodetectors (SC-2SNAP), which yielded a four-fold reduction in the kinetic inductance of a single pixel. To further increase MCR, an optimized series resistance of about 380 Ω is added to each pixel, reducing the full recovery time of each pixel from a few microseconds to approximately 90 ns. All nine pixels show uniform superconducting critical temperatures of ∼7.4 K and switching currents in the range of 15.3–16.7 μA. When the detector coupled to a single-mode fiber and illuminated with 1064-nm photons, the single-pixel exhibits a well-saturated system detection efficiency (SDE) of 67% at a dark CR of 30 Hz, and its CR exceeds 10 MHz with an SDE of 50%. When coupled to a 200-μm multi-mode fiber, the total SDE of nine pixels is approximately 42% and the total MCR exceeds 43 MHz.
We have developed a practical superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) system with our superconducting thin films and devices fabrication, optical coupling packaging, and cryogenic technology. The SNSPD devices were fabricated from high-quality niobium nitride (NbN) ultra-thin films that were epitaxially grown on single-crystal MgO substrates, and optical cavity structure were applied for improvement of photo absorption efficiency. The SNSPD system was developed based on a compact Gifford-McMahon (GM) cryocooler, in which SNSPD can operate continuously at temperature of 2.9 K +/- 10 mK with low power consumption without any liquid cryogens. The system detection efficiencies at 1550 nm wavelength (at a 100 Hz dark count rate) were found to be 2.6% for device without optical cavity and 21% for device with optical cavity. The response speed of devices showed maximally 200 MHz with 5 × 5 mm square device, and timing jitter of 100 ps full width at a half maximum (FWHM) was observed.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are nanodevices usually made from thin niobium nitride (NbN) films. Operated at liquid helium temperature, they can exhibit high detection efficiency with low dark-counts associated with a fast response time and a low timing jitter. Covering a broad detection range from ultraviolet to mid-infrared, SNSPDs are a very attractive alternative to silicon or gallium arsenide based semiconductor detectors for fiber based telecommunication when single-photon sensitivity and high counting rates are necessary. \nEfficient packaging and fiber coupling of a SNSPD is in itself a real challenge and is often a limiting factor in reaching high system quantum efficiency. Our approach makes use of a controlled expansion alloy which has been adequately heat treated to enhance its characteristics for cryogenic operation. This insures the integrity of the optical coupling at cryogenic temperatures while done at room temperature. It also provides a good attenuation for electromagnetic interference due to the high relative permeability of the nickel-iron alloy. The small form factor of this pigtailed optical fiber package makes it versatile and could be easily integrated with a commercial cryogen-free system or simply dipped into a standard helium transport Dewar. We report on our theoretical and experimental methodology to evaluate the optical coupling quality and present the optoelectronic characterization of two devices packaged in this way. Electrical simulation is studied to understand the speed limitation factor inherent to these devices and preliminary speed and jitter measurements are reported.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) play a pivotal role in infrared single-photon-detection applications owing to their free-running mode, near-unity detection efficiency, and excellent time resolution. However, conventional niobium nitride- (NbN) SNSPDs often have a trade-off between optimal detection efficiency and time resolution. We herein demonstrate NbN SNSPDs in the combination of high efficiency and time resolution by using the helium-ion-irradiated film of 10 nm and a homemade cryogenic amplifier to improve the signal-to-noise ratio. The proposed 18-μm-diameter device operated at 850 mK shows a saturated system detection efficiency of ∼90.5% at 1550 nm wavelength with a dark count rate below 50 counts per second (cps), and minimum system timing jitter of ∼14.7 ps. Meanwhile, the recovery time is 21.2 ns owing to its lower kinetic inductance. The time-of-flight light detection and ranging with this device was further carried out indoors, which demonstrates a submillimeter (<0.5 mm) depth resolution, as well as good depth and intensity reconstruction of a low-signature object even under the dwell time of 0.5 ms. It indicates that our device has a great advantage and potential in high-time-resolution and weak-signal-detection applications, such as real-time imaging, fluorescence lifetime detection, and remote laser sensing.
In this paper, we present an overview of the devolvement of niobium nitride (NbN)-based superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) array for applications in SIMIT. These applications include high-speed interleaved nanowire arrays for optical quantum communication, large-active-area arrays for light detection and ranging (LIDAR), and free-space-coupled arrays for LIDAR and imaging. A recent development in fiber-array-coupled SNSPD array for quantum information processing is also presented.