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Optics Express

Counting near-infrared single-photons with 95% efficiency

Adriana E. Lita, Aaron Miller, Sae Woo Nam

Published Jan 1, 2008• 733 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Single-photon detectors operating at visible and near-infrared wavelengths with high detection efficiency and low noise are a requirement for many quantum-information applications. Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) are capable of detecting visible and near-infrared light at the single-photon level and are capable of discriminating between one- and two-photon absorption events; however these capabilities place stringent design requirements on the TES heat capacity, thermometry, and optical detection efficiency. We describe the fabrication and evaluation of a fiber-coupled, photon-number-resolving TES detector optimized for absorption at 1550 and 1310 nm wavelengths. The measured system detection efficiency at 1556 nm is 95 % +/- 2 %, which to our knowledge is the highest system detection efficiency reported for a near-infrared single-photon detector.

DOI
10.1364/oe.16.003032

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Single-photon detectors operating at visible and near-infrared wavelengths with high detection efficiency and low noise are a requirement for many quantum-information applications. Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) are capable of detecting visible and near-infrared light at the single-photon level and are capable of discriminating between one- and two-photon absorption events; however these capabilities place stringent design requirements on the TES heat capacity, thermometry, and optical detection efficiency. We describe the fabrication and evaluation of a fiber-coupled, photon-number-resolving TES detector optimized for absorption at 1550 and 1310 nm wavelengths. The measured system detection efficiency at 1556 nm is 95 % +/- 2 %, which to our knowledge is the highest system detection efficiency reported for a near-infrared single-photon detector.
Superconducting photon detectors have emerged as a powerful new option for detecting single photons. System detection efficiency that incorporates the quantum efficiency of the device and system losses is one of the most important single-photon detector performance metrics for quantum information applications. Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) are microcalorimeters that have the ability of distinguishing single photons with negligible dark counts. In addition, TESs are capable of directly measuring the photon number in a pulse of light. We have achieved near-unity system detection efficiency with TESs at particular wavelengths in the near-infrared by using multilayer structures that enhance the absorption of light into the active device material. We describe the design of the multilayer structure enabling high detection efficiency TESs including issues and requirements for obtaining detection efficiency values higher than 99 %. We describe the device fabrication and finally, show recent results of devices optimized for high detection efficiency using the multilayer structure.
Many quantum-information applications require high-efficiency, low-noise, single-photon detectors that operate at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. The tunable superconducting critical temperature and anomalously low electron-phonon coupling of tungsten make it a suitable material for the fabrication of transition-edge sensors (TESs) that meet these requirements. The quantum efficiency of a typical tungsten TES detector, intrinsically around 15% at 1550 nm, can be increased by placing the tungsten detector in a resonant cavity, but the performance of a device embedded in a cavity has not been tested previously. We demonstrate that the presence of the cavity does not adversely affect the sensitivity or response time, and we report on the device characteristics of a new generation of tungsten TESs with greater than 80% quantum efficiency at 1550 nm.
Optical transition-edge sensors (TESs) that can resolve the energy of a single photon have been proven useful in quantum information and biology. TESs can provide spectra ranging from near-infrared to visible regions and have the potential to reveal new phenomena in biology. In this paper, we have investigated the responses of TESs to photons at near-infrared and visible wavelengths, from 450 to 1000 nm in 10-nm increments using a supercontinuum laser and a tunable bandpass filter, which converted the multichromatic light source into monochromatic light. The system detection efficiency of an optical TES optimized for photon detection at 950 nm was nearly 100% at some wavelengths and was more than 10% for the overall bandwidth. We found that the detector responses strongly depended on the wavelengths. A spectrum of the filtered light at shorter wavelengths was more likely to show a second peak with energy lower than that of the primary peak.
Transition-edge sensors (TESs) are among the most promising technologies for single-photon detection, offering high quantum efficiency, low dark count rates, and energy-resolving capabilities. However, optimal TES performance typically requires ultra-low temperatures below 100 mK, necessitating bulky dilution refrigerators or adiabatic demagnetization refrigerators, which limits their practical deployment. In this work, we demonstrate a titanium-based TES optimized for 1064 nm photon detection that achieves high performance at an elevated bath temperature of 220 mK—approximately 90% of its superconducting transition temperature, making it compatible with more compact sorption refrigerators. Through the integration of an optical cavity, a detailed complex impedance and noise characterization, and a systematic investigation of dark count sources, the detector achieves a system detection efficiency exceeding 97%, an energy resolution of 240 meV, and an intrinsic dark count rate as low as 2 × 10−4 cps. These findings significantly expand the applicability of TES single-photon detectors to practical photon-counting systems, such as quantum information and infrared astronomy.
Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs), working as single-photon detectors with high quantum efficiency, low dark count rate, and photon number resolving capability, have been successfully used in quantum information experiments as well as astronomical transient object observations. Aiming to achieve high count rate, we are developing titanium-based superconducting TES single-photon detectors with a critical temperature of ~300 mK. Ti-based TESs with active area from 10 × 10 μm to 40 × 40 μm are first fabricated on silicon substrate coated with SiOx. The fabricated TES devices show a thermal conductance scaling with the active area and an effective time constant of ~4 μs from pulsed laser diode illumination. In order to get high quantum efficiency, we further design and fabricate a 1550-nm optical cavity based on dielectric mirror and antireflection layer, and study its absorption with an IR spectrometer. Ti TES devices on the dielectric mirror are then fabricated and the superconducting transition is measured.
Transition-edge sensors (TESs) have shown the capability of both energy resolution and resolving photon numbers. In this work, we present the fabrication and characterization of high detection efficiency Ti optical TESs with the critical temperatureTc= 213 mK and the photon-number resolving capability at telecommunication wavelength 1550 nm. The Ti superconducting film is prepared by a DC magnetron sputtering technique. An optical cavity comprised of 5-layers antireflection and 15-layers high-reflection Ta2O5/SiO2is enclosed with the Ti film by an ion beam assisted deposition method to improve detection efficiency, which brings the absorption of 99.74%. The energy resolution for the Ti TES with sensitive area 20 μm × 20 μm is 0.45 eV and the detection efficiency is 97% ± 1%.