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Superconductor Science and Technology

A miniaturized 4 K platform for superconducting infrared photon counting detectors

Nathan R. Gemmell, Matthew Hills, Tom W. Bradshaw, Tom Rawlings, Ben Green, Robert M. Heath, Konstantinos Tsimvrakidis, Sergiy M. Dobrovolskiy, Val Zwiller, Sander N. Dorenbos, Martin Crook, Robert H. Hadfield

Published Sep 6, 2017• 41 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report on a miniaturized platform for superconducting infrared photon counting detectors. We have implemented a fibre-coupled superconducting nanowire single photon detector in a Stirling/Joule–Thomson platform with a base temperature of 4.2 K. We have verified a cooling power of 4 mW at 4.7 K. We report 20% system detection efficiency at 1310 nm wavelength at a dark count rate of 1 kHz. We have carried out compelling application demonstrations in single photon depth metrology and singlet oxygen luminescence detection.

DOI
10.1088/1361-6668/aa8ac7

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We report on a miniaturized platform for superconducting infrared photon counting detectors. We have implemented a fibre-coupled superconducting nanowire single photon detector in a Stirling/Joule–Thomson platform with a base temperature of 4.2 K. We have verified a cooling power of 4 mW at 4.7 K. We report 20% system detection efficiency at 1310 nm wavelength at a dark count rate of 1 kHz. We have carried out compelling application demonstrations in single photon depth metrology and singlet oxygen luminescence detection.
This paper describes the construction of a cryostat and an optical system with a free-space coupling efficiency of 56.5% ± 3.4% to a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) for infrared quantum communication and spectrum analysis. A 1K pot decreases the base temperature to T = 1.7 K from the 2.9 K reached by the cold head cooled by a pulse-tube cryocooler. The minimum spot size coupled to the detector chip was 6.6 ± 0.11 µm starting from a fiber source at wavelength, λ = 1.55 µm. We demonstrated photon counting on a detector with an 8 × 7.3 µm2 area. We measured a dark count rate of 95 ± 3.35 kcps and a system detection efficiency of 1.64% ± 0.13%. We explain the key steps that are required to improve further the coupling efficiency.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors are widely used for detecting individual photons across various wavelengths from ultraviolet to near-infrared range. Recently, there has been increasing interest in enhancing their sensitivity to single photons in the mid-infrared spectrum, driven by applications in quantum communication, spectroscopy, and astrophysics. Here, we present our efforts to expand the spectral detection capabilities of U-shaped NbTiN-based superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, fabricated in a 2-wire configuration on a silicon-on-insulator substrate, into the mid-infrared range. We demonstrate saturated internal detection efficiency extending up to a wavelength of 3.5 μm for a 5 nm thick and 50 nm wide NbTiN nanowire with a dark count rate less than 10 counts per second at 0.9 K and a rapid recovery time of 4.3 ns. The detectors are engineered for integration on waveguides in a silicon-on-insulator platform for compact, multi-channel device applications.
Facing the demand for applications such as wide-area terrain mapping and space-based atmospheric measurements, there is an urgent need to develop miniaturized single-photon detection systems with low power consumption that can be adapted to airborne platforms. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have been applied to quantum information, bioimaging, deep space communication and long-range lidar with the advantages of high quantum efficiency, low dark count rate and fast detection rate. However, traditional SNSPD usually operates at 2.1 K or even lower, and the required cryogenic systems are large in size and weight, which are not easy to apply to airborne platforms. Up to now, there has been no report on SNSPD applied to airborne platforms. How to apply SNSPD to airborne platforms is an urgent problem to be solved. In this work, we design and make an SNSPD with an operating temperature of 4.2 K. The superconducting detector chip is a four-channel photon-number-resolving device with a photosensitive area of 60 μm × 60 μm, which is coupled to a 200-μm-diameter fiber by a beam compression system with a quantum efficiency of 50% at 1064 nm and a temperature of 4.2 K. Finally, the time characteristics of a single channel are tested in response to different photon numbers. The timing jitter of four-photon response is smallest, and the half-height width is 110 ps. This work not only supports airborne applications, but also has positive implications for promoting the development of general-purpose miniaturized SNSPD systems and their applications.
For photon-counting applications at ultraviolet wavelengths, there are currently no detectors that combine high efficiency (> 50%), sub-nanosecond timing resolution, and sub-Hz dark count rates. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have seen success over the past decade for photon-counting applications in the near-infrared, but little work has been done to optimize SNSPDs for wavelengths below 400 nm. Here, we describe the design, fabrication, and characterization of UV SNSPDs operating at wavelengths between 250 and 370 nm. The detectors have active areas up to 56 μm in diameter, 70 - 80% efficiency at temperatures up to 4.2 K, timing resolution down to 60 ps FWHM, blindness to visible and infrared photons, and dark count rates of ∼ 0.25 counts/hr for a 56 μm diameter pixel. These performance metrics make UV SNSPDs ideal for applications in trapped-ion quantum information processing, lidar studies of the upper atmosphere, UV fluorescent-lifetime imaging microscopy, and photon-starved UV astronomy.
Superconducting single photons detectors (SSPDs) have emerged in recent years as a promising alternative for fast and sensitive infrared detectors working in the photon counting mode. In particular, those detectors combine very low dark count rates (below 1 Hz), high speed (above 1 GHz), photon number resolution and reasonable quantum efficiency (10% at telecom wavelengths). They already found applications in quantum cryptography systems and integrated circuit failure analysis, but could also be used as ultimate sensors in matrix configurations. We show here the optimization of SSPD fabrication and their optical metrology at CEA. SSPD are fabricated by patterning a 80 nm wide nanowire in a very thin (4 nm) NbN film on sapphire, forming a pixel of several microns size. A cryogenic all-fibered optoelectronic system has been developed and allows precise metrology of the optical performances of SSPD. When biasing near the critical current of the nanowire, we demonstrate a detection quantum efficiency of 8% at 1.55 µm, which is also found to be strongly polarization dependent. This quantum efficiency being limited by optical absorption, we propose a prism coupling based absorption enhancing structure that allows reaching 100% quantum efficiency.