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arXiv:2002.09088 · Applied Physics Letters

Large-area microwire MoSi single-photon detectors at 1550 nm wavelength

Ilya Charaev, Yukimi Morimoto, Andrew E. Dane, Anu Agarwal, Marco Colangelo, Karl K. Berggren

Published Jun 15, 2020• 81 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We demonstrate saturated internal detection efficiency at 1550 nm wavelengths for meander-shaped superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors made of 3 nm thick MoSi films with widths of 1 and 3 μm and active areas up to 400 × 400 μm2. Despite hairpin turns and a large number of squares (up to 104) in the device, the dark count rate was measured to be ∼103 cps at 99% of the switching current. This value is about two orders of magnitude lower than the results reported recently for short MoSi devices with shunt resistors. We also found that 5 nm thick MoSi detectors with the same geometry were insensitive to single near-infrared photons, which may be associated with different levels of suppression of the superconducting order parameter. However, our results obtained on 3 nm thick MoSi devices are in good agreement with predictions in the frame of a kinetic-equation approach.

DOI
10.1063/5.0005439

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We demonstrate saturated internal detection efficiency at 1550 nm wavelengths for meander-shaped superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors made of 3 nm thick MoSi films with widths of 1 and 3 μm and active areas up to 400 × 400 μm2. Despite hairpin turns and a large number of squares (up to 104) in the device, the dark count rate was measured to be ∼103 cps at 99% of the switching current. This value is about two orders of magnitude lower than the results reported recently for short MoSi devices with shunt resistors. We also found that 5 nm thick MoSi detectors with the same geometry were insensitive to single near-infrared photons, which may be associated with different levels of suppression of the superconducting order parameter. However, our results obtained on 3 nm thick MoSi devices are in good agreement with predictions in the frame of a kinetic-equation approach.
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are the highest-performing technology for time-resolved single-photon counting from the UV to the near-infrared. The recent discovery of single-photon sensitivity in micrometer-scale superconducting wires is a promising pathway to explore for large active area devices with application to dark matter searches and fundamental physics experiments. We present 8-pixel 1 mm2 superconducting microwire single photon detectors (SMSPDs) with 1 μm-wide wires fabricated from WSi and MoSi films of various stoichiometries using electron-beam and optical lithography. Devices made from all materials and fabrication techniques show saturated internal detection efficiency at 1064 nm in at least one pixel, and the best performing device made from silicon-rich WSi shows single-photon sensitivity in all eight pixels and saturated internal detection efficiency in 6/8 pixels. This detector is the largest reported active-area SMSPD or SNSPD with near-IR sensitivity, and it extends the SMSPD to an array format. By further optimizing the photolithography techniques presented in this work, a viable pathway exists to realize larger devices with cm2-scale active area and beyond.
We report on the fabrication and characterization of single-photon-sensitive WSi superconducting detectors with wire widths from 1 μm to 3 μm. The devices achieve the saturated internal detection efficiency at a wavelength of 1.55 μm and exhibit maximum count rates in excess of 105 s−1. We also investigate the material properties of the silicon-rich WSi films used for these devices. We find that many devices with active lengths of several hundred micrometers exhibit critical currents in excess of 50% of the depairing current. A meandered detector with a 2.0 μm wire width is demonstrated over a surface area of 362 × 362 μm2, showcasing the material and device quality achieved.
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPD) have unique characteristics of ultra low dark counts and wide spectrum sensitivity. These natures are indispensable for the evaluation of ultra-broadband parametric fluorescence, which are used for the quantum optical coherence tomography and novel optical non-linear experiments. Here we report the spectral dependence of the detection efficiency of a meander type SNSPD device, having reduced strip width of 50 nm, over a wide spectrum range up to near infra-red wavelength. The fiber coupled, meander type device was fabricated using 6 nm thick Niobium nitride (NbN) nanowires of reduced strip width, 50 nm, patterned over a MgO substrate with active area of 10 x 10 μm2. A maximum efficiency of 32% at 500 nm, 30% at 600 nm, 16% at 800 nm, 10% at 1000 nm, and 1% at 1550 nm with the normalized bias current of 0.95 (bias 37 μA ) was observed at 4.2 K. The salient feature of the device is, it exhibits a very low dark count rate (DCR) of only 2 Hz at the standard operating bias of 37 μA and ultra low DCR of 0.01Hz at 34 μA. Moreover, at this reduced bias with 0.01Hz DCR, the detection efficiency is not appreciably decreased in the visible region (32% at 500 nm and 30% at 600 nm) and an order decrease is observed (0.1%) at 1550 nm. The noise equivalent power (NEP) is of the order 10-19 WHz-1/2 in the visible region and 10-17 WHz- 1/2 in the near IR region. Ultra-broad band parametric fluorescence of band width from 791 nm to 1610 nm generated by a quasi-phase matched (QPM) device was successfully detected with this SSPD.
Abstract We demonstrate a large active area superconducting single-nanowire photon detector with a diameter of Φ100 μ m. The detector was fabricated on a Si substrate with distributed Bragg reflector acting as an optical cavity and coupled with a 105 μ m multi-mode optical fiber. Owing to the extensive kinetic inductor caused by the large sensitive area of the detector, the response waveform exhibited a large overshoot, causing the device to latch with the increasing bias current. By adding a resistor in series with the device, the overshoot was suppressed, and the maximal bias current increased from 25 to 31 μ A. A well-saturated detection efficiency with a maximal value of 65% was achieved at the wavelength of 532 nm. Moreover, the maximal counting rate improved from 1 to 10 MHz.
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) have demonstrated advantages over traditional detectors in many fields [1]. Most fiber-coupled SNSPDs are coupled to single mode fibers, limiting their usability for applications where large surface area detectors are needed, for example fluorescence detection and satellite-based quantum communication [2][3]. Other important requirements for many applications are broadband detection efficiency, and low timing jitter [4]. So far, the increased meander length of multimode detectors, and the therefore increased kinetic inductance and number of imperfections due to film inhomogeneities have limited the timing jitter [5]. Moreover, combining low timing jitter with high detection efficiency and low dark count rate in one device is challenging due to the tradeoffs between different properties of SNSPDs [6]. In this paper, we achieved high efficiency and strong saturation over a broad wavelength range with a low timing jitter of 16.99 ps while maintaining a low dark count rate of < 0.2 Hz for an SNSPD coupled to a 50 µm core multimode fiber. To enhance the broadband absorption from 405 nm to 830 nm, detectors were fabricated on an optimized SiO2 cavity and Aluminum mirror. The geometry of the nanowire was also tuned to reach a good internal saturation of efficiency over the visible/NIR range but also to carry high current to get a large signal. Furthermore, a cryogenic readout amplifier was optimized to improve the signal to noise ratio and thus lead to high time resolution. Our devices can be readily used to enable higher resolution and faster quantum optics, bio-imaging, laser ranging and other optical experiments.