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Applied Physics Letters

MoRe superconducting nanowire single-photon detector atop of lithium niobate on insulator

A. A. Nevzorov, И. О. Венедиктов, Vladislav Korovin, S. Svyatodukh, Nadezhda A. Titova, Elmira M. Baeva, Irina Florya, Danil Kobtsev, Anna I. Kolbatova, Vadim V. Kovalyuk, Gregory N Gol'tsman

Published Oct 23, 2025• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate an amorphous molybdenum–rhenium (MoRe) film on a thin-film lithium niobate substrate as an efficient superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) operating at T = 2.5 K. MoRe films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering with a composite target of 56 at. % Mo and 44 at. % Re on lithium niobate on insulator substrates at room temperature. We investigated the spectral and temporal performance of MoRe SNSPDs as well as the detection regimes of one and multiple photons. The fabricated detector with a nanowire width of about 150 nm shows an internal detection efficiency of approximately 98% and 73.5% for the most crucial wavelengths for integration on the chip, 780 and 1550 nm, respectively. Our results show great potential for the use of MoRe for scalable and cryogenic tunable quantum photonic integrated circuits.

DOI
10.1063/5.0295444

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•Sep 9, 2025•0 citations
We demonstrate an amorphous molybdenum–rhenium (MoRe) film on a thin-film lithium niobate substrate as an efficient superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) operating at T = 2.5 K. MoRe films were deposited by DC magnetron sputtering with a composite target of 56 at. % Mo and 44 at. % Re on lithium niobate on insulator substrates at room temperature. We investigated the spectral and temporal performance of MoRe SNSPDs as well as the detection regimes of one and multiple photons. The fabricated detector with a nanowire width of about 150 nm shows an internal detection efficiency of approximately 98% and 73.5% for the most crucial wavelengths for integration on the chip, 780 and 1550 nm, respectively. Our results show great potential for the use of MoRe for scalable and cryogenic tunable quantum photonic integrated circuits.
We demonstrate a molybdenum silicide superconducting nanowire single-photon detector heterogeneously integrated onto a thin-film lithium niobate waveguide. The detector achieves approximately 50% on-chip detection efficiency at 1550 nm with a jitter of 82 ps when measured at 0.78 K. This demonstration showcases the integration of an amorphous superconductor utilizing conventional fabrication processes without strict cooling and substrate requirements. This paves the way for the integration of additional superconducting electronic components, potentially realizing the full promise of integrated quantum photonic circuits.
We report the fabrication of superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD, SSPD) based on molybdenum nitride (MoN) film with and without a cavity structure. Ultrathin polycrystalline γ-Mo2N films with aTcabout 6 K were obtained by reactive DC magnetron sputtering. The absorption efficiency of the device was calculated by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method using the optical constants of MoN determined by ellipsometry measurements. The SNSPD with a meander of 150-nm-width and 7-nm-thick nanowire showed a long saturation plateau in the bias current dependence of the system detection efficiency (SDE) at visible wavelength. The SNSPD with a cavity structure showed an SDE of 37% and a timing jitter of 79 ps at a wavelength of 1560 nm. The results show that MoN is a promising alternative to amorphous superconductors for high-performance SNSPD.
We demonstrate waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on thin-film lithium niobate (LN). Using a 250 um-long NbN superconducting nanowire lithographically defined on top of a 125 um-long LN nanowaveguide, on-chip detection efficiency of 46% is realized with simultaneous high performance in dark count rate and timing jitter. As LN possesses high second-order nonlinear \c{hi}(2) and electro-optic properties, an efficient single-photon detector on thin-film LN opens up the possibility to construct small scale fully-integrated quantum photonic chip which includes single-photon sources, filters, tunable quantum gates and detectors.
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are a key enabling technology for optical quantum information science. In this paper we demonstrate a SNSPD fabricated on lithium niobate, an important material for high speed integrated photonic circuits. We report a system detection efficiency of 0.15% at a 1 kHz dark count rate with a maximum of ~1% close to the critical current at 1550 nm wavelength for a parallel wire SNSPD with front side illumination. There is clear scope for improving on this performance with further materials optimization. Detector integration with a lithium niobate optical waveguide is simulated, demonstrating the potential for high single photon detection efficiency in an integrated quantum optic circuit.
Lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) is an emerging photonic platform with high potential for scalable quantum information processing due to its strong second-order nonlinearity. However, little progress has been made in developing on-chip single-photon detectors on LNOI. Niobium titanium nitride (NbTiN) superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are a promising candidate for this application. In this work, we use DC reactive magnetron sputtering to grow high-quality NbTiN thin films using an ultrahigh vacuum deposition system with a base pressure lower than 2 × 10 − 10 mbar. Enabled by the low concentration of background impurities in this system, we investigate the impact of substrate temperature during NbTiN growth. We achieve four nm thick superconducting films with a critical temperature ( T c ) of 12.3 K grown at a substrate temperature of 825 K. We find that the NbTiN films grow in the (111) orientation and evolve from a porous pillar structure when grown at low temperatures to densely packed fibrous grains at higher temperatures. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the increased substrate temperature reduces the oxygen concentration in our films and improves the overall stoichiometry. In addition, we integrate these films with the LNOI platform and investigate the obtained interface quality. Lastly, we fabricate SNSPDs from the NbTiN film on LNOI and characterize the detector performance.
Lithium niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) is an emerging photonic platform with high potential for scalable quantum information processing due to its strong second-order nonlinearity. However, little progress has been made in developing on-chip single-photon detectors on LNOI. Niobium tita nium nitride (NbTiN) superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are a promising candidate for this application. In this work, we use DC reactive magnetron sputtering to grow high quality NbTiN thin films using an ultra-high vacuum deposition system with a base pressure lower than 2×10‾¹⁰ mbar. Enabled by the low concentration of background impurities in this system, we investigate the impact of substrate temperature during NbTiN growth. We achieve four nm thick superconducting films with a critical temperature (Tc) of 12.3 K grown at a substrate temperature of 825 K. We find that the NbTiN films grow in the (111) orientation and evolve from a porous pillar structure when grown at low temperatures to densely packed fibrous grains at higher temper atures. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the increased substrate temperature reduces the oxygen concentration in our films and improves the overall stoichiometry. In addition, we integrate these films with the LNOI platform and investigate the obtained interface quality. Lastly, we fabricate SNSPDs from the NbTiN film on LNOI and characterize the detector performance.