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Applied Physics Letters

Nanosecond-scale timing jitter for single photon detection in transition edge sensors

Antı́a Lamas-Linares, Brice Calkins, Nathan A. Tomlin, Thomas Gerrits, Adriana E. Lita, J. Beyer, Richard P. Mirin, Sae Woo Nam

Published Jun 10, 2013• 48 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Transition edge sensors (TES) have the highest reported efficiencies (>98%) for single photon detection in the visible and near infrared. Experiments in quantum information and foundations of physics that rely on this efficiency have started incorporating these detectors. However, their range of applicability has been hindered by slow operation both in recovery time and timing jitter. We show how a conventional tungsten-TES can be operated with jitter times of ≈4 ns, providing a practical simplification for experiments that rely on simultaneous high efficiency and low timing uncertainty, such as loophole free Bell inequalities and device independent quantum cryptography.

DOI
10.1063/1.4809731

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Transition edge sensors (TES) have the highest reported efficiencies (>98%) for detection of single photons in the visible and near infrared. Experiments in quantum information and foundations of physics that rely critically on this efficiency have started incorporating these detectors into con- ventional quantum optics setups. However, their range of applicability has been hindered by slow operation both in recovery time and timing jitter. We show here how a conventional tungsten-TES can be operated with jitter times of < 4 ns, well within the timing resolution necessary for MHz clocking of experiments, and providing an important practical simplification for experiments that rely on the simultaneous closing of both efficiency and locality loopholes.

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Applied Physics Letters•Dec 12, 2011•32 citations
Transition edge sensors (TES) have the highest reported efficiencies (>98%) for single photon detection in the visible and near infrared. Experiments in quantum information and foundations of physics that rely on this efficiency have started incorporating these detectors. However, their range of applicability has been hindered by slow operation both in recovery time and timing jitter. We show how a conventional tungsten-TES can be operated with jitter times of ≈4 ns, providing a practical simplification for experiments that rely on simultaneous high efficiency and low timing uncertainty, such as loophole free Bell inequalities and device independent quantum cryptography.
Transition edge sensors (TES) have the highest reported efficiencies (>98%) for detection of single photons in the visible and near infrared. Experiments in quantum information and foundations of physics that rely critically on this efficiency have started incorporating these detectors into con- ventional quantum optics setups. However, their range of applicability has been hindered by slow operation both in recovery time and timing jitter. We show here how a conventional tungsten-TES can be operated with jitter times of < 4 ns, well within the timing resolution necessary for MHz clocking of experiments, and providing an important practical simplification for experiments that rely on the simultaneous closing of both efficiency and locality loopholes.
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.
Abstract In photonic quantum computing and quantum information processing, photon number resolution is crucial for generating highly non-classical quantum states. Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) are considered one of the most effective photon number-resolving detectors for this purpose. However, the current timing properties of TESs, such as timing jitter (a few ns) and recovery time (several hundred ns), are insufficient, limiting the operational speed of quantum applications. To address the potential for improving TES timing performance, we have proposed an improved calculation to derive TES timing jitter. Our calculations including the effect of the SQUID noise indicate that expanding the electrical bandwidth of the external voltage amplifier and optimizing the inductance to match that bandwidth, can significantly improve timing jitter. According to our model, timing jitter 1 ns FWHM is achievable with an input inductance of 0.35 nH and an electrical bandwidth of 1 GHz. Additionally, we have shown that with our TES and SQUID parameters, the lowest achievable timing jitter is approximately 0.71 ns FWHM. Achieving an even lower jitter would require a redesign aimed at further reducing the SQUID noise.
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.
Abstract The transition edge sensor (TES) is known for its superior energy resolution and utilized in diverse physics experiments. TESs with micrometer dimensions have photon-number-resolving capabilities in infrared wavelengths, serving as a key device particularly for non-Gaussian quantum state generation in optical quantum information processing. Although theoretical timing limits for these devices are expected to be sub-nanosecond, such fast responses have remained unobserved with conventional superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) readouts alone. In this study, we probe the sub-nanosecond timing properties of a micron-scale TES under near-infrared laser irradiation via a proposed parallel SQUID-semiconductor readout scheme. In this scheme, the SQUID performs energy measurement, while the semiconductor readout, which is inductively decoupled from the SQUID, performs timing measurement. We employed a high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) for the timing measurement. Under high-photon-number irradiation that drove the TES into its normal state, we achieved a timing jitter below 200 ps, compared with several nanoseconds for conventional readouts. Note that this value does not represent the single-photon timing jitter since it was obtained under high-photon-number irradiation; single-photon timing measurement remains a key objective for future study. The findings of this study will broaden the future applications of TESs in various fields requiring high timing resolution with energy-resolving capabilities.
Transition-edge sensor microcalorimeters with recovery times near 1 μs have become highly desirable in quantum science applications as near-infrared single-photon detectors with photon-number resolving capability. Previously, the recovery times of these devices could be decreased only by changing device material or modifying the superconducting-to-normal transition. We demonstrate a method for improving this speed that uses a normal-metal heat-sink. This demonstration with tungsten devices realizes a factor of 4 decrease in recovery time without significantly affecting energy resolution. Our approach may enable the creation of high-efficiency transition-edge sensors with decay times short enough to operate with 80 MHz pulsed single-photon sources.