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IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity

Probing Kinetic Inductance Pulses Below the Hotspot Activation Threshold of a Superconducting Nanowire

Jacob Glasby, Farzad Faramarzi, Sasha Sypkens, Peter K. Day, Karl K. Berggren, Philip D. Mauskopf

Published Mar 17, 2021• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) have demonstrated timing and efficiency properties that have placed them at the frontier in single photon sensing applications (e.g. photon counting, deep space optical communications, quantum communication, and quantum encryption). Properties such as timing jitter as low as 3 ps, dark counts under 90 counts per day, high detection efficiency (>90%), short dead time and sensitivity over a wide range of photon energies (UV to IR). SNSPDs have a cutoff energy where the photon does not have enough energy to trigger the detection mechanism. In this paper, we lay out the framework and experimental setup to explore a modified approach in detecting photons below the cut off energy typical in an SNSPD. Leveraging the nanowire's change in kinetic inductance from photon absorption, the resulting voltage pulse is measured through a coupled quantum-noise-limited parametric amplifier. We consider nanowires with widths less than the vortex entry limit of w <; 4.4ξ, where ξ is the coherence length, limiting the sources of noise.

DOI
10.1109/tasc.2021.3065290

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Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) have demonstrated timing and efficiency properties that have placed them at the frontier in single photon sensing applications (e.g. photon counting, deep space optical communications, quantum communication, and quantum encryption). Properties such as timing jitter as low as 3 ps, dark counts under 90 counts per day, high detection efficiency (>90%), short dead time and sensitivity over a wide range of photon energies (UV to IR). SNSPDs have a cutoff energy where the photon does not have enough energy to trigger the detection mechanism. In this paper, we lay out the framework and experimental setup to explore a modified approach in detecting photons below the cut off energy typical in an SNSPD. Leveraging the nanowire's change in kinetic inductance from photon absorption, the resulting voltage pulse is measured through a coupled quantum-noise-limited parametric amplifier. We consider nanowires with widths less than the vortex entry limit of w <; 4.4ξ, where ξ is the coherence length, limiting the sources of noise.
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Single-photon sources and detectors are key enabling technologies for photonics in quantum information science and technology (QIST). QIST applications place high-level demands on the performance of sources and detectors; it is therefore essential that their properties can be characterized accurately. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have spectral sensitivity from visible to beyond 2 μm in wavelength, picosecond timing resolution (Jitter <100 ps FWHM) and the capacity to operate ungated with low dark counts (<1 kHz). This facilitates data acquisition at high rates with an excellent signal-to-noise ratio. We report on the construction and characterization of a two-channel SNSPD system. The detectors are mounted in a closed-cycle refrigerator, which eliminates reliance on liquid cryogens. Our specification was to deliver a system with 1% efficiency in both channels at a wavelength of 1310 nm with 1 kHz dark count rate. A full width at half maximum timing jitter of less than 90 ps is achieved in both channels. The system will be used to detect individual photons generated by quantum-optical sources at telecom wavelengths. Examples include single-photon sources based on quantum dots (emitting at 1310 nm). The SNSPD system's spectral sensitivity and timing resolution make it suited to characterization of such sources, and to wider QIST applications.
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Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors have emerged as a promising technology for quantum metrology from the mid-infrared to ultraviolet frequencies. Despite recent experimental successes, a predictive model to describe the detection event in these detectors is needed to optimize the detection metrics. Here, we propose a probabilistic criterion for single-photon detection based on single-vortex (flux quanta) crossing the width of the nanowire. Our model makes a connection between the dark counts and photon counts near the detection threshold. The finite-difference calculations demonstrate that a change in the bias current distribution as a result of the photon absorption significantly increases the probability of single-vortex crossing even if the vortex potential barrier has not vanished completely. We estimate the instrument response function and show that the timing uncertainty of this vortex tunneling process corresponds to a fundamental limit in timing jitter of the click event. We demonstrate a trade-space between this intrinsic (quantum) timing jitter, quantum efficiency, and dark count rate in TaN, WSi, and NbN superconducting nanowires at different experimental conditions. Our detection model can also explain the experimental observation of exponential decrease in the quantum efficiency of SNSPDs at lower energies. This leads to a pulse-width dependency in the quantum efficiency, and it can be further used as an experimental test to compare across different detection models.
Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) excel at a wide variety of performance criteria for single photon counting. They combine unprecedented high detection efficiency, high timing resolution, high count rates, low intrinsic dark count rates, and are sensitive to ultraviolet through mid-infrared single-photons. At JPL, we are working on several projects to push the performance limits of SNSPDs to achieve higher maximum count rates, larger active areas, higher timing resolution, and a wider spectral range. Our recent advances enable new applications for dark matter detection, imaging, and space-to-ground communication and provide insight into the fundamental physics of single-photon detection in superconducting nanowires.