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arXiv:2104.12500 · Journal of Physics Photonics

Integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on titanium in-diffused lithium niobate waveguides

Jan Philipp Höpker, Varun Verma, Maximilian Protte, Raimund Ricken, Viktor Quiring, Christof Eigner, Lena Ebers, Manfred Hammer, Jens Förstner, Christine Silberhorn, Richard P. Mirin, Sae Woo Nam, Tim J. Bartley

Published Jun 30, 2021• 14 citations
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Abstract

Abstract We demonstrate the integration of amorphous tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on titanium in-diffused lithium niobate waveguides. We show proof-of-principle detection of evanescently coupled photons of 1550 nm wavelength using bidirectional waveguide coupling for two orthogonal polarization directions. We investigate the internal detection efficiency as well as detector absorption using coupling-independent characterization measurements. Furthermore, we describe strategies to improve the yield and efficiency of these devices.

DOI
10.1088/2515-7647/ac105b

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Abstract We demonstrate the integration of amorphous tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on titanium in-diffused lithium niobate waveguides. We show proof-of-principle detection of evanescently coupled photons of 1550 nm wavelength using bidirectional waveguide coupling for two orthogonal polarization directions. We investigate the internal detection efficiency as well as detector absorption using coupling-independent characterization measurements. Furthermore, we describe strategies to improve the yield and efficiency of these devices.
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We demonstrate a molybdenum silicide superconducting nanowire single-photon detector heterogeneously integrated onto a thin-film lithium niobate waveguide. The detector achieves approximately 50% on-chip detection efficiency at 1550 nm with a jitter of 82 ps when measured at 0.78 K. This demonstration showcases the integration of an amorphous superconductor utilizing conventional fabrication processes without strict cooling and substrate requirements. This paves the way for the integration of additional superconducting electronic components, potentially realizing the full promise of integrated quantum photonic circuits.
We show the proof-of-principle detection of light at 1550 nm coupled evanescently from a titanium in-diffused lithium niobate waveguide to a superconducting transition edge sensor. The coupling efficiency strongly depends on the polarization, the overlap between the evanescent field, and the detector structure. We experimentally demonstrate polarization sensitivity of this coupling as well as photon-number resolution of the integrated detector. The combination of transition edge sensors and lithium niobate waveguides can open the field for a variety of new quantum optics experiments.
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Titanium in-diffused waveguides in lithium niobate is a promising integration platform for building devices for quantum communication, due to its low-loss propagation, high-efficiency coupling to telecom fiber, high second order nonlinearity and electro-optic coefficient. Over recent years we have been investigating the integration of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) in this platform, together with the Integrated Quantum Optics group at Paderborn University and colleagues at NIST Boulder. I will report on the proof-of-principle demonstrations of functional devices, as well as discuss our progress to improve the efficiency and yield of on-chip detectors.