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Quantum Science and Technology

High-efficiency photon-number-resolving detector for improving heralded single-photon sources

Lorenzo Stasi, Patrik Caspar, Tiff Brydges, Hugo Zbinden, Félix Bussières, Rob Thew

Published Jul 7, 2023• 29 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Heralded single-photon sources (HSPS) intrinsically suffer from multiphoton emission, leading to a trade-off between the source’s single-photon quality and the heralding rate. A solution to this problem is to use photon-number-resolving (PNR) detectors to filter out the heralding events where more than one photon pair is created. Here, we demonstrate an improvement of a HSPS by heralding photons using a high-efficiency parallel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (P-SNSPD) with PNR power. Specifically, we show a reduction in the g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) of the heralded single photon by ( 26.9 ± 0.1 ) % for a fixed pump power, or alternatively, an increase in the heralding rate by a factor of 1.368 ± 0.002 for a fixed g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) . We also demonstrate that such a PNR device can reveal thermal photon-number statistics of unheralded photons, which is enabled by our ability to construct its full input–output response function. These results are possible thanks to our P-SNSPD architecture that ensures non-latching operation with no electrical crosstalk, which are essential conditions necessary to obtain the correct photon-number statistics and also faster recovery times, therefore enabling fast heralding rates. These results show that our efficient PNR P-SNSPD architecture can significantly improve the performance of HSPSs and can precisely characterize them, making these detectors a useful tool for a wide range of optical quantum information protocols.

DOI
10.1088/2058-9565/ace54b

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•Oct 26, 2018•1 citation
Abstract Heralded single-photon sources (HSPS) intrinsically suffer from multiphoton emission, leading to a trade-off between the source’s single-photon quality and the heralding rate. A solution to this problem is to use photon-number-resolving (PNR) detectors to filter out the heralding events where more than one photon pair is created. Here, we demonstrate an improvement of a HSPS by heralding photons using a high-efficiency parallel superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (P-SNSPD) with PNR power. Specifically, we show a reduction in the g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) of the heralded single photon by ( 26.9 ± 0.1 ) % for a fixed pump power, or alternatively, an increase in the heralding rate by a factor of 1.368 ± 0.002 for a fixed g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) . We also demonstrate that such a PNR device can reveal thermal photon-number statistics of unheralded photons, which is enabled by our ability to construct its full input–output response function. These results are possible thanks to our P-SNSPD architecture that ensures non-latching operation with no electrical crosstalk, which are essential conditions necessary to obtain the correct photon-number statistics and also faster recovery times, therefore enabling fast heralding rates. These results show that our efficient PNR P-SNSPD architecture can significantly improve the performance of HSPSs and can precisely characterize them, making these detectors a useful tool for a wide range of optical quantum information protocols.
Heralded single-photon sources (HSPS) intrinsically suffer from multiphoton emission, leading to a trade-off between the source's quality and the heralding rate. A solution to this problem is to use photon-number-resolving (PNR) detectors to filter out the heralding events where more than one photon pair is created. Here, we demonstrate the use of a high-efficiency PNR superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) as a heralding detector for a HSPS. By filtering out higher-order heralding detections, we can reduce the g(2)(0)g^{(2)}(0)g(2)(0) of the heralded single photon by (26.6±0.2) %(26.6 \pm 0.2)\,\%(26.6±0.2)%, or alternatively, for a fixed pump power, increasing the heralding rate by a factor of 1.363±0.0041.363 \pm 0.0041.363±0.004 for a fixed g(2)(0)g^{(2)}(0)g(2)(0). Additionally, we use the detector to directly measure the photon-number distribution of a thermal mode and calculate the unheralded g(2)(0)g^{(2)}(0)g(2)(0). We show the possibility to perform g(2)(0)g^{(2)}(0)g(2)(0) measurements with only one PNR detector, with the results in agreement with those obtained by more common-place techniques which use multiple threshold detectors. Our work shows that efficient PNR SNSPDs can significantly improve the performance of HSPSs and can precisely characterize them, making these detectors a useful tool for a wide range of optical quantum information protocols.
Multiphoton contributions pose a significant challenge for the realisation of heralded single-photon sources (HSPS) based on nonlinear processes. In this work, we improve the quality of single photons generated in this way by harnessing the photon-number resolving (PNR) capabilities of commercial superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). We report a 13 ± 0.4% reduction of g(2)(τ = 0), even with a collection efficiency in the photon source of only 29.6%. Our work demonstrates the first application of the PNR capabilities of SNSPDs and shows improvement in the quality of an HSPS with widely available technology.
Photon-number-resolving (PNR) single-photon detectors are an enabling technology in many areas, such as photonic quantum computing, nonclassical light-source characterization, and quantum imaging.Here, we demonstrate high-efficiency PNR detectors using a parallel superconducting nanowire singlephoton-detector (P-SNSPD) architecture that does not suffer from crosstalk between the pixels and that is free of latching.The behavior of the detector is modeled and used to predict the possible outcomes given a certain number of incoming photons.We apply our model to a four-pixel P-SNSPD with a system detection efficiency of 92.5%.We also demonstrate how this detector allows reconstructing the photonnumber statistics of a coherent source of light, which paves the way towards the characterization of the photon statistics of other types of light source using a single detector.
Photon-number resolving (PNR) single-photon detectors are of interest for a wide range of applications in the emerging field of photon-based quantum technologies. Especially photonic integrated circuits will pave the way for a high complexity and ease of use of quantum photonics. Superconducting nanowire singlephoton detectors (SNSPDs) are of special interest since they combine a high detection efficiency and a high timing accuracy with a high count rate and they can be configured as PNR-SNSPDs. Here, we present a PNR-SNSPD with a four photon resolution suitable for waveguide integration operating at a temperature of 4 K. A high statistical accuracy for the photon number is achieved for a Poissonian light source at a photon flux below 5 photons/pulse with a detection efficiency of 22.7 ± 3 % at 900 nm and a pulse rate frequency of 76 MHz. We demonstrate the ability of such a detector to discriminate a sub-Poissonian from a Poissonian light source.
Deterministic generation of single photons is essential for many quantum information technologies. A bulk optical nonlinearity emitting a photon pair, where the measurement of one of the photons heralds the presence of the other, is commonly used with the caveat that the single-photon emission rate is constrained due to a trade-off between multiphoton events and pair emission rate. Using an efficient and low noise photon-number-resolving superconducting nanowire detector we herald, in real time, a single photon at telecommunication wavelength. We perform a second-order photon correlation g2(0){g}^{2}(0)g2(0) measurement of the signal mode conditioned on the measured photon number of the idler mode for various pump powers and demonstrate an improvement of a heralded single-photon source. We develop an analytical model using a phase-space formalism that encompasses all multiphoton effects and relevant imperfections, such as loss and multiple Schmidt modes. We perform a maximum-likelihood fit to test the agreement of the model to the data and extract the best-fit mean photon number $\ensuremath{\mu}$ of the pair source for each pump power. A maximum reduction of $0.118\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.012$ in the photon g2(0){g}^{2}(0)g2(0) correlation function at $\ensuremath{\mu}=0.327\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.007$ is obtained, indicating a strong suppression of multiphoton emissions. For a fixed ${g}^{2}(0)=7\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}$, we increase the single pair generation probability by 25%. Our experiment, built using fiber-coupled and off-the-shelf components, delineates a path to engineering ideal sources of single photons.
Photon-number resolving (PNR) single-photon detectors are of interest for a wide range of applications in the emerging field of photon based quantum technologies. Especially photonic integrated circuits will pave the way for a high complexity and ease of use of quantum photonics. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are of special interest since they combine a high detection efficiency and a high timing accuracy with a high count rate and they can be configured as PNR-SNSPDs. Here, we present a PNR-SNSPD with a four photon resolution suitable for waveguide integration. A high statistical accuracy for the photon number is achieved for a Poissonian light source at photon flux below \num{5} photons/pulse with a detection efficiency of 22.7$\pm$3.0 % at 900 nm and pulse rate frequency of 76 MHz. We demonstrate the ability of such a detector to discriminate a sub-Poissonian from a Poissonian light source. This demonstration shows the practical benefit of using a PNR detector in a quantum photonic circuit.