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Optica Quantum

Inline quantum measurements with SNSPDs coupled to photonic bound states

Filippo Martinelli, Anton N. Vetlugin, Shuyu Dong, Darren Ming Zhi Koh, Mariia Sidorova, Christian Kurtsiefer, Cesare Soci

Published Dec 4, 2025• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We report the realization of inline quantum measurements with waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). To suppress parasitic scattering at detector terminations, while ensuring compatibility with standard photonic substrates and cryogenic operation, we developed a photonic bound state in the continuum (BIC) platform based on etchless polymer waveguides. We show BIC-coupled inline detectors with on-chip efficiency exceeding 80%, recovery time of less than 2 ns, and intrinsic jitter of less than 70 ps. As a proof of principle, we implement Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometry and photon-number resolution with two collinear detectors within a footprint of 60 × 6 µm 2 . The concept of inline quantum measurements could be further developed to support more complex circuit functionalities, such as higher-order correlation measurements, quantum state tomography, and multi-photon subtraction, within a compact architecture.

DOI
10.1364/opticaq.574428

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We report the realization of inline quantum measurements with waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). To suppress parasitic scattering at detector terminations, while ensuring compatibility with standard photonic substrates and cryogenic operation, we developed a photonic bound state in the continuum (BIC) platform based on etchless polymer waveguides. We show BIC-coupled inline detectors with on-chip efficiency exceeding 80%, recovery time of less than 2 ns, and intrinsic jitter of less than 70 ps. As a proof of principle, we implement Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometry and photon-number resolution with two collinear detectors within a footprint of 60 × 6 µm 2 . The concept of inline quantum measurements could be further developed to support more complex circuit functionalities, such as higher-order correlation measurements, quantum state tomography, and multi-photon subtraction, within a compact architecture.
We report the realization of inline quantum measurements with waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). To suppress parasitic scattering at detector terminations, while ensuring compatibility with standard photonic substrates and cryogenic operation, we developed a photonic bound states in the continuum (BIC) platform based on etchless polymer waveguides. We show BIC-coupled inline detectors with on-chip efficiency exceeding 80%, recovery time of less than 2 ns, and intrinsic jitter of less than 70 ps. As a proof of principle, we implement Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometry and photon number resolution with two collinear detectors within a footprint of 60⋅660 \cdot 660⋅6 μm2μm^2μm2. The concept of inline quantum measurements could be further developed to support more complex circuit functionalities, such as higher-order correlation measurements, quantum state tomography, and multi-photon subtraction, within a compact architecture.
We present the concept of inline detection with integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs), a promising approach to miniaturize quantum photonic circuits. By cascading multiple nanowires with controlled partial absorption along a single waveguide, complex detection functionalities can be realized within a compact footprint. To enable inline detectors, we developed an unconventional integration platform based on photonic bound states in etchless polymer waveguides that mitigates parasitic losses at the detectors termination. We demonstrate integrated devices with on-chip efficiency exceeding 80%, recovery time of less than 2 ns, and intrinsic jitter of less than 70 ps. As a proof of principle, we implement an inline Hanbury Brown and Twiss interferometry and photon number resolving detector. With a footprint of 60 × 6 µm², it is one of the most compact demonstrations of its kind to date. The concept of inline quantum measurements could be further developed to support miniaturization of more complex circuit functionalities, such as higher-order correlation measurements, quantum state tomography, and multi-photon subtraction within a compact footprint.
Advancements in integrated photonics have enabled the miniaturization and scaling of complex photonic circuits, providing stability and reliability beyond the capabilities of conventional bulk setups. A central component of quantum photonic circuits is the single-photon detector, responsible for quantum state measurement. Due to the stringent performance requirements of quantum applications, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have emerged as the preferred detection technology, offering superior efficiency, low noise, and high timing resolution. While tabletop SNSPDs are now mature, commercially available and contributed to significant progress in quantum computing and communication, their integration into photonic circuits is still in its infancy. Integrated SNSPDs have shown the potential to not only match but surpass tabletop detectors in several performance metrics. Nevertheless, demonstrations have largely focused on individual integrated detectors, with limited investigation into more complex integrated circuits and advanced functionalities. In this thesis, we present a novel integration platform based on photonic bound states in the continuum (BICs) to address a critical limitation of conventional SNSPD designs, where nanowires placed directly atop the waveguide core are constrained by the core geometry. The etchless nature of our BIC waveguides provides a flat surface that decouples the design of the electronic readout circuitry below from the optical circuit layer above, enabling innovative integrated-nanowire geometries and facilitating large-scale integration of SNSPDs with CMOS-compatible circuits. We established a complete fabrication and characterization workflow for integrating NbTiN-based superconducting nanowires with BIC waveguides. Our integrated detectors achieved state-of-the-art performance, including detection efficiencies exceeding 70%, intrinsic jitter below 70 ps, and ultrafast recovery times (~1.7 ns). These results pave the way toward GHz-rate quantum state measurements, essential for scalable quantum photonic processors. Leveraging the design flexibility of BIC waveguides, we introduce the concept of inline detection with SNSPDs which exploits their unique ability to precisely engineer absorption through nanowire length control. By cascading multiple partially absorbing SNSPDs, it is possible to significantly reduce the number of required optical components and miniaturize complex quantum measurement setups within an extremely compact footprint. Traditional integration geometries prevent such implementations due to significant scattering losses at nanowire terminations, which limit the feasibility of cascaded designs. On the other hand, the design flexibility provided by our BIC platform makes it ideal for development of inline detection schemes. As a proof-of-concept, we use inline detection to miniaturize two fundamental quantum optics tools: an integrated Hanbury Brown and Twiss (HBT) interferometer and a photon-number-resolving (PNR) detector. We replicated the functionalities of these setups using only two nanowires integrated along a single waveguide. These devices show extremely compact footprint, highlighting the scalability potential of our approach. We validated these devices through characterization of a single-photon source and the discrimination of collinear photon pairs. The experimental results aligned well with previous literature and theoretical predictions, confirming the reliability of our integration method. Overall, this work presents a novel approach to quantum measurements within integrated quantum photonic circuits. Inline detection represents a step forward in quantum integrated photonics, moving from individual device demonstrations toward functional quantum circuits. By introducing our BIC-based integration platform, we simplify detector design and fabrication, lowering barriers to the development of inline detection circuits and opening new opportunities in multiphoton quantum state measurements, single-photon spectroscopy, and multiphoton subtraction.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) provide high efficiency for detecting individual photons while keeping dark counts and timing jitter minimal. Besides superior detection performance over a broad optical bandwidth, compatibility with an integrated optical platform is a crucial requirement for applications in emerging quantum photonic technologies. Here we present SNSPDs embedded in nanophotonic integrated circuits which achieve internal quantum efficiencies close to unity at 1550 nm wavelength. This allows for the SNSPDs to be operated at bias currents far below the critical current where unwanted dark count events reach milli-Hz levels while on-chip detection efficiencies above 70% are maintained. The measured dark count rates correspond to noise-equivalent powers in the 10(-19) W/Hz(-1/2) range and the timing jitter is as low as 35 ps. Our detectors are fully scalable and interface directly with waveguide-based optical platforms.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors are an enabling technology for modern quantum information science and are gaining attractiveness for the most demanding photon counting tasks in other fields. Embedding such detectors in photonic integrated circuits enables additional counting capabilities through nanophotonic functionalization. Here, we show how a scalable number of waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors can be interfaced with independent fiber optic channels on the same chip. Our plug-and-play detector package is hosted inside a compact and portable closed-cycle cryostat providing cryogenic signal amplification for up to 64 channels. We demonstrate state-of-the-art multi-channel photon counting performance with average system detection efficiency of (40.5 ± 9.4)% and dark count rate of (123 ± 34) Hz for 32 individually addressable detectors at minimal noise-equivalent power of (5.1 ± 1.2) · 10−18 W/Hz. Our detectors achieve timing jitter as low as 26 ps, which increases to (114 ± 17) ps for high-speed multi-channel operation using dedicated time-correlated single photon counting electronics. Our multi-channel single photon receiver offers exciting measurement capabilities for future quantum communication, remote sensing, and imaging applications.