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Nanotechnology

A superconducting nanowire single photon detector on lithium niobate

Michael G. Tanner, L. San Emeterio Alvarez, Weitao Jiang, Richard John Warburton, Z. H. Barber, Robert H. Hadfield

Published Nov 26, 2012• 50 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are a key enabling technology for optical quantum information science. In this paper we demonstrate a SNSPD fabricated on lithium niobate, an important material for high speed integrated photonic circuits. We report a system detection efficiency of 0.15% at a 1 kHz dark count rate with a maximum of ~1% close to the critical current at 1550 nm wavelength for a parallel wire SNSPD with front side illumination. There is clear scope for improving on this performance with further materials optimization. Detector integration with a lithium niobate optical waveguide is simulated, demonstrating the potential for high single photon detection efficiency in an integrated quantum optic circuit.

DOI
10.1088/0957-4484/23/50/505201

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Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are a key enabling technology for optical quantum information science. In this paper we demonstrate a SNSPD fabricated on lithium niobate, an important material for high speed integrated photonic circuits. We report a system detection efficiency of 0.15% at a 1 kHz dark count rate with a maximum of ~1% close to the critical current at 1550 nm wavelength for a parallel wire SNSPD with front side illumination. There is clear scope for improving on this performance with further materials optimization. Detector integration with a lithium niobate optical waveguide is simulated, demonstrating the potential for high single photon detection efficiency in an integrated quantum optic circuit.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) provide high efficiency for detecting individual photons while keeping dark counts and timing jitter minimal. Besides superior detection performance over a broad optical bandwidth, compatibility with an integrated optical platform is a crucial requirement for applications in emerging quantum photonic technologies. Here we present SNSPDs embedded in nanophotonic integrated circuits which achieve internal quantum efficiencies close to unity at 1550 nm wavelength. This allows for the SNSPDs to be operated at bias currents far below the critical current where unwanted dark count events reach milli-Hz levels while on-chip detection efficiencies above 70% are maintained. The measured dark count rates correspond to noise-equivalent powers in the 10(-19) W/Hz(-1/2) range and the timing jitter is as low as 35 ps. Our detectors are fully scalable and interface directly with waveguide-based optical platforms.
Single photon detection advanced rapidly in the last decade. The superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) is an emerging technology, which offers low dark count rates, broadband sensitivity from visible to mid-infrared wavelengths and very high quantum efficiency. All these features are appealing for future emerging applications in remote gas sensing, quantum key distribution and quantum information processing. By enclosing the detector in an optical cavity, tuned to the operating wavelength, the total system detection of the SNSPD is improved. Based on the cavity design, the detector absorption is boosted at the desired experimental wavelength. Devices have been fabricated and tested, in this thesis, with enhanced detection efficiency at near-infrared, infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths. NbTiN detectors fabricated on Ta2O5 / SiO2 distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) for front-side coupling exhibit a system detection efficiency of ≈ 90% at λ = 940 nm for the best device measured. SNSPDs were also fabricated in NbTiN on metallic mirrors for back-side coupling for 1550 and 2333 nm experimental wavelengths. The first design exhibited a system detection efficiency of ≈ 84.5%, at λ = 1550 nm for the best device measured. The second exhibited low system detection efficiency since the device suffered from unexpectedly high dark count rate mainly due to blackbody radiation at 2.2 K. However, it was possible to measure the timing jitter of this device at 350 mK indicating a FWHM of 84 ps. Another technique to improve the total system detection efficiency of the SNSPD, is by fabricating a hairpin-shaped nanowire atop a single mode waveguide. In this design, photons travel through the waveguide and via evanescent coupling are absorbed in the nanowire. These SNSPD devices have been designed to thread along single mode Si ridge waveguides using a hairpin-shaped nanowire structure, which offers enhanced coupling and absorption efficiency via evanescent coupling. These ultra-thin superconducting MoSi detectors are precisely patterned on top of a single mode Si waveguide (600 nm) with alignment error less than 40 nm. Low temperature electrical and nano-optical characterization was carried out using a two-stage pulse tube (PT) coldhead, using an additional 4He / 3He sorption pump, low vibration characterization of SNSPD devices at 350 mK was carried out. Characterised devices exhibit low dark count rate <5 counts per second and timing jitter of ≈ 83 ps full width half maximum (FWHM) at wavelength (λ) = 1550 nm and at critical current ≈ 30 µA.
We demonstrate waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on thin-film lithium niobate (LN). Using a 250 um-long NbN superconducting nanowire lithographically defined on top of a 125 um-long LN nanowaveguide, on-chip detection efficiency of 46% is realized with simultaneous high performance in dark count rate and timing jitter. As LN possesses high second-order nonlinear \c{hi}(2) and electro-optic properties, an efficient single-photon detector on thin-film LN opens up the possibility to construct small scale fully-integrated quantum photonic chip which includes single-photon sources, filters, tunable quantum gates and detectors.
Fast and efficient detection of single photons with high timing accuracy is a crucial requirement in most quantum optics experiments and enables novel sensing and imaging solutions. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD) achieve technology-leading performance in terms of detection efficiency, dark count rate, timing jitter, and detector dead times. However, conventional SNSPDs with high system detection efficiency typically rely on resonant enhancement of the absorption efficiency, thus only achieving attractive detector benchmarks over narrow spectral windows. Waveguide-integrated SNSPDs allow for leveraging the wideband material absorption in superconducting nanowires by absorbing light in a traveling-wave geometry but have been limited to low system detection efficiencies due to interface losses when coupling to optical fibers. Here, we show how high system detection efficiencies of 22%–73% are realized over a broad wavelength range from 532 nm to 1640 nm in a single waveguide-integrated SNSPD device. We accomplish efficient coupling between optical fibers and waveguide-integrated nanowire detectors by employing a 3D interface, produced in direct laser writing, that relies on total internal reflection for achieving a broad transmission bandwidth. We further find low timing jitter of 25.7 ps and detector decay times of 9.8 ns, allowing for single-photon counting with high repetition rates up to 100 MHz. Our work paves the way for an efficient single-photon detector solution that combines the spectral requirements of an extremely wide range of quantum optics experiments in a single device. The coupling approach and SNSPD-integration with nanophotonic circuits are further well-suited for realizing large-scale detector arrays.
Here, we demonstrate waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on thin-film lithium niobate (LiNbO3, LN). Using a 250 μm-long NbN superconducting nanowire lithographically defined on top of a 125 μm-long LN nanowaveguide, an on-chip detection efficiency of 46% is realized with simultaneous high performance in dark count rates and timing jitter. As LN possesses high χ(2) second-order nonlinear and electro-optic properties, an efficient single-photon detector on thin-film LN opens up the possibility to construct a small-scale fully integrated quantum photonic chip, which includes single-photon sources, filters, tunable quantum gates, and detectors.