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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics

Bandwidth-enhanced Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors for Telecom Wavelengths

Stephan Krapick, Marina Hesselberg, Varun Boehm Verma, Sae Woo Nam, Richard P. Mirin

Published Jan 1, 2017• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We present a single-photon detector providing system detection efficiencies of at least (86.7 ± 0.9) % from 1450 nm to 1640 nm. It comprises bilayer superconducting WSi nanowires in conjunction with all-dielectric structures for optical impedance matching.
DOI
10.1364/cleo_qels.2017.ff1e.2

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We present an alternative approach to the fabrication of highly efficient superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) based on tungsten silicide. Using well-established technologies for the deposition of dielectric mirrors and anti-reflection coatings in conjunction with an embedded WSi bilayer photon absorber structure, we fabricated a bandwidth-enhanced detector. It exhibits system detection efficiencies (SDE) higher than (87.1±1.3) %\left(87.1\pm1.3\right)\,\%(87.1±1.3)% in the range from 1450 nm1450\,\mathrm{nm}1450nm to 1640 nm1640\,\mathrm{nm}1640nm, with a maximum of (92.9±1.1) %\left(92.9\pm1.1\right)\,\%(92.9±1.1)% at 1515 nm1515\,\mathrm{nm}1515nm. Our measurements indicate SDE enhancements of up to (18.4±1.7) %\left(18.4\pm1.7\right)\,\%(18.4±1.7)% over a single-absorber WSi SNSPD. The latter has been optimized for 1550 nm for comparison and exhibits maximum SDE of (93.5±1.2) %\left(93.5\pm1.2\right)\,\%(93.5±1.2)% at 1555 nm. We emphasize that our technological approach has been tested with, but is not limited to, the wavelengths and absorber material presented here. It could be adapted flexibly for multi-color detector systems from the ultraviolet to the mid-infrared wavelength range. This bears the potential for significant improvements in many current quantum optical experiments and applications as well as for detector commercialization.
We develop single-photon detectors comprising single-mode fiber-coupled superconducting nanowires, with high system detection efficiencies at a wavelength of 940 nm. The detector comprises a 6.5-nm-thick, 110-nm-wide NbN nanowire meander fabricated onto a Si substrate with a distributed Bragg reflector for enhancing the optical absorptance. We demonstrate that, via the design of a low filling factor (1/3) and active area (Φ = 10 μm), the system reaches a detection efficiency of ∼60% with a dark count rate of 10 Hz, a recovery time <12 ns, and a timing jitter of ∼50 ps.
High-efficiency superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs), which have numerous applications in quantum information systems, function by using the optical cavity and the ultrasensitive photon response of their ultra-thin superconducting nanowires. However, the wideband response of superconducting nanowires is limited due to the resonance of the traditional optical cavity. Here, we report on a supercontinuum SNSPD that can efficiently detect single photons over an ultra-broad spectral range from visible to mid-infrared light. Our detection approach relies on using multiple cavities with well-separated absorbed resonances formed by fabricating multilayer superconducting nanowires on metallic mirrors with silica acting as spacer layers. Thus, we are able to extend the absorption spectral bandwidth while maintaining considerable efficiency, as opposed to a conventional single-layer SNSPD. Our calculations show that the proposed supercontinuum SNSPD exhibits an extended absorption bandwidth with increased nanowire layers. Its absorption efficiency is greater than 70% over the entire range from 400 to 2500 nm (or 400 to 3000 nm), when using two-layer (or three-layer) nanowires. As a proof of principle, the SNSPD with bilayer nanowires is fabricated based on the proposed detector architecture with simplified geometrical parameters. The detector achieves broadband detection efficiency over 60% from 950 to 1650 nm. This type of detector may replace multiple narrow band detectors in a system and find uses in the emerging and rapidly advancing field of atomic and molecular broadband spectroscopy.