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Mohan, N., Minaeva, O., Goltsman, G. N., Saleh, M. F., Nasr, M. B., Sergienko, A. V., et al. (2009). Ultrabroadband coherence-domain imaging using parametric downconversion and superconducting single-photon detectors at 1064 nm. Appl. Opt., 48(20), 4009–4017.
Abstract: Coherence-domain imaging systems can be operated in a single-photon-counting mode, offering low detector noise; this in turn leads to increased sensitivity for weak light sources and weakly reflecting samples. We have demonstrated that excellent axial resolution can be obtained in a photon-counting coherence-domain imaging (CDI) system that uses light generated via spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) in a chirped periodically poled stoichiometric lithium tantalate (chirped-PPSLT) structure, in conjunction with a niobium nitride superconducting single-photon detector (SSPD). The bandwidth of the light generated via SPDC, as well as the bandwidth over which the SSPD is sensitive, can extend over a wavelength region that stretches from 700 to 1500 nm. This ultrabroad wavelength band offers a near-ideal combination of deep penetration and ultrahigh axial resolution for the imaging of biological tissue. The generation of SPDC light of adjustable bandwidth in the vicinity of 1064 nm, via the use of chirped-PPSLT structures, had not been previously achieved. To demonstrate the usefulness of this technique, we construct images for a hierarchy of samples of increasing complexity: a mirror, a nitrocellulose membrane, and a biological sample comprising onion-skin cells.
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Tanner, M. G., Natarajan, C. M., Pottapenjara, V. K., O'Connor, J. A., Warburton, R. J., Hadfield, R. H., et al. (2010). Enhanced telecom wavelength single-photon detection with NbTiN superconducting nanowires on oxidized silicon. Appl. Phys. Lett., 96(22), 3.
Abstract: Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have emerged as a highly promising infrared single-photon detector technology. Next-generation devices are being developed with enhanced detection efficiency (DE) at key technological wavelengths via the use of optical cavities. Furthermore, new materials and substrates are being explored for improved fabrication versatility, higher DE, and lower dark counts. We report on the practical performance of packaged NbTiN SNSPDs fabricated on oxidized silicon substrates in the wavelength range from 830 to 1700 nm. We exploit constructive interference from the SiO2/Si interface in order to achieve enhanced front-side fiber-coupled DE of 23.2 % at 1310 nm, at 1 kHz dark count rate, with 60 ps full width half maximum timing jitter.
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Yamashita, T., Miki, S., Qiu, W., Fujiwara, M., Sasaki, M., & Wang, Z. (2010). Temperature dependent performances of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors in an ultralow-temperature region. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 21(3), 336–339.
Abstract: We report on the performance of a fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) from 4 K down to the ultralow temperature of 16 mK for a 1550 nm wave length. The system detection efficiency (DE) increased with de creasing the temperature and reached the considerably high value of 15% with a dark count rate less than 100 cps below 1.5 K, even without an optical cavity structure. We also observed saturation of the system DE in its bias current dependency at 16 mK, which indicates that the device DE of our SNSPD nearly reached intrinsic DE despite the device having a large active area of 20 μm × 20 μm. The dark count was finite even at 16 mK and the black body radiation becomes its dominant origin in the low temperatures for fiber-coupled devices.
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Marsili, F., Najafi, F., Dauler, E., Bellei, F., Hu, X., Csete, M., et al. (2011). Single-photon detectors based on ultranarrow superconducting nanowires. Nano Lett., 11(5), 2048–2053.
Abstract: We report efficient single-photon detection (η = 20% at 1550 nm wavelength) with ultranarrow (20 and 30 nm wide) superconducting nanowires, which were shown to be more robust to constrictions and more responsive to 1550 nm wavelength photons than standard superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, based on 90 nm wide nanowires. We also improved our understanding of the physics of superconducting nanowire avalanche photodetectors, which we used to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of ultranarrow-nanowire detectors by a factor of 4, thus relaxing the requirements on the read-out circuitry and making the devices suitable for a broader range of applications.
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Manova, N. N., Korneeva, Y. P., Korneev, A. A., Slysz, W., Voronov, B. M., & Gol'tsman, G. N. (2011). Superconducting NbN single-photon detector integrated with quarter-wave resonator. Tech. Phys. Lett., 37(5), 469–471.
Abstract: The spectral dependence of the quantum efficiency of superconducting NbN single-photon detectors integrated with quarter-wave resonators based on Si3N4, SiO2, and SiO layers has been studied.
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Yang, J. K. W., Kerman, A. J., Dauler, E. A., Cord, B., Anant, V., Molnar, R. J., et al. (2009). Suppressed critical current in superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors with high fill-factors. IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond., 19(3), 318–322.
Abstract: In this work we present a new fabrication process that enabled the fabrication of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors SNSPD with fill-factors as high as 88% with gaps between nanowires as small as 12 nm. This fabrication process combined high-resolution electron-beam lithography with photolithography. Although this work was motivated by the potential of increased detection efficiency with higher fill-factor devices, test results showed an unexpected systematic suppression in device critical currents with increasing fill-factor.
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Hu, X., Zhong, T., White, J. E., Dauler, E. A. N., Faraz, Herder, C. H., Wong, F. N. C., et al. (2009). Fiber-coupled nanowire photon counter at 1550 nm with 24% system detection efficiency. Opt. Lett., 34(23), 3607–3609.
Abstract: We developed a fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detector system in a close-cycled cryocooler and achieved 24% and 22% system detection efficiencies at wavelengths of 1550 and 1315 nm, respectively. The maximum dark count rate was ~1000 counts/s.
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Kerman, A. J., Yang, J. K. W., Molnar, R. J., Dauler, E. A., & Berggren, K. K. (2009). Electrothermal feedback in superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. Phys. Rev. B, 79(10), 4.
Abstract: We investigate the role of electrothermal feedback in the operation of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). It is found that the desired mode of operation for SNSPDs is only achieved if this feedback is unstable, which happens naturally through the slow electrical response associated with their relatively large kinetic inductance. If this response is sped up in an effort to increase the device count rate, the electrothermal feedback becomes stable and results in an effect known as latching, where the device is locked in a resistive state and can no longer detect photons. We present a set of experiments which elucidate this effect and a simple model which quantitatively explains the results.
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Stevens, M. J., Baek, B., Dauler, E. A., Kerman, A. J., Molnar, R. J., Hamilton, S. A., et al. (2010). High-order temporal coherences of
chaotic and laser light. Opt. Express, 18(2), 1430–1437.
Abstract: We demonstrate a new approach to measuring high-order temporal coherences that uses a four-element superconducting nanowire single-photon detector. The four independent, interleaved single-photon-sensitive elements parse a single spatial mode of an optical beam over dimensions smaller than the minimum diffraction-limited spot size. Integrating this device with four-channel time-tagging electronics to generate multi-start, multi-stop histograms enables measurement of temporal coherences up to fourth order for a continuous range of all associated time delays. We observe high-order photon bunching from a chaotic, pseudo-thermal light source, measuring maximum third- and fourth-order coherence values of 5.87 ± 0.17 and 23.1 ± 1.8, respectively, in agreement with the theoretically predicted values of 3! = 6 and 4! = 24. Laser light, by contrast, is confirmed to have coherence values of approximately 1 for second, third and fourth orders at all time delays.
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Dauler, E., Kerman, A., Robinson, B., Yang, J., Voronov, B., Goltsman, G., et al. (2009). Photon-number-resolution with sub-30-ps timing using multi-element superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. J. Modern Opt., 56(2), 364–373.
Abstract: A photon-number-resolving detector based on a four-element superconducting nanowire single photon detector is demonstrated to have sub-30-ps resolution in measuring the arrival time of individual photons. This detector can be used to characterize the photon statistics of non-pulsed light sources and to mitigate dead-time effects in high-speed photon counting applications. Furthermore, a 25% system detection efficiency at 1550 nm was demonstrated, making the detector useful for both low-flux source characterization and high-speed photon-counting and quantum communication applications. The design, fabrication and testing of this detector are described, and a comparison between the measured and theoretical performance is presented.
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Marsili, F., Bitauld, D., Fiore, A., Gaggero, A., Leoni, R., Mattioli, F., et al. (2009). Superconducting parallel nanowire detector with photon number resolving functionality. J. Modern Opt., 56(2-3), 334–344.
Abstract: We present a new photon number resolving detector (PNR), the Parallel Nanowire Detector (PND), which uses spatial multiplexing on a subwavelength scale to provide a single electrical output proportional to the photon number. The basic structure of the PND is the parallel connection of several NbN superconducting nanowires (100 nm-wide, few nm-thick), folded in a meander pattern. Electrical and optical equivalents of the device were developed in order to gain insight on its working principle. PNDs were fabricated on 3-4 nm thick NbN films grown on sapphire (substrate temperature TS=900C) or MgO (TS=400C) substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering in an Ar/N2 gas mixture. The device performance was characterized in terms of speed and sensitivity. The photoresponse shows a full width at half maximum (FWHM) as low as 660ps. PNDs showed counting performance at 80 MHz repetition rate. Building the histograms of the photoresponse peak, no multiplication noise buildup is observable and a one photon quantum efficiency can be estimated to be QE=3% (at 700 nm wavelength and 4.2 K temperature). The PND significantly outperforms existing PNR detectors in terms of simplicity, sensitivity, speed, and multiplication noise.
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Пентин, И. В., Смирнов, К. В., Вахтомин, Ю. Б., Смирнов, А. В., Ожегов, Р. В., Дивочий, А. В., et al. (2011). Быстродействующий терагерцевый приемник и инфракрасный счетчик одиночных фотонов на эффекте разогрева электронов в сверхпроводниковых тонкопленочных наноструктурах. Труды МФТИ, 3(2), 38–42.
Abstract: Представлены результаты создания приемных систем терагерцевого диапазона (0.3-70 ТГц), обладающих рекордным быстродействием (50 пс) и высокой чувствительностью (до 5x 10^(-14) Вт/Гц^(1/2)), а также однофотонных приемных систем ближнего инфракрасного диапазона с квантовой эффективностью 25 %, уровнем темнового счета 10-1c., максимальной скоростью счета ~ 100 МГц и временным разрешением до 50 пс.
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Reiger, E., Pan, D., Slysz, W., Jukna, A., Sobolewski, R., Dorenbos, S., et al. (2007). Spectroscopy with nanostructured superconducting single photon detectors. IEEE J. Select. Topics Quantum Electron., 13(4), 934–943.
Abstract: Superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) are nanostructured devices made from ultrathin superconducting films. They are typically operated at liquid helium temperature and exhibit high detection efficiency, in combination with very low dark counts, fast response time, and extremely low timing jitter, within a broad wavelength range from ultraviolet to mid-infrared (up to 6 mu m). SSPDs are very attractive for applications such as fiber-based telecommunication, where single-photon sensitivity and high photon-counting rates are required. We review the current state-of-the-art in the SSPD research and development, and compare the SSPD performance to the best semiconducting avalanche photodiodes and other superconducting photon detectors. Furthermore, we demonstrate that SSPDs can also be successfully implemented in photon-energy-resolving experiments. Our approach is based on the fact that the size of the hotspot, a nonsuperconducting region generated upon photon absorption, is linearly dependent on the photon energy. We introduce a statistical method, where, by measuring the SSPD system detection efficiency at different bias currents, we are able to resolve the wavelength of the incident photons with a resolution of 50 nm.
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Rath, P., Vetter, A., Kovalyuk, V., Ferrari, S., Kahl, O., Nebel, C., et al. (2016). Travelling-wave single-photon detectors integrated with diamond photonic circuits: operation at visible and telecom wavelengths with a timing jitter down to 23 ps. In J. - E. Broquin, & G. N. Conti (Eds.), Integrated Optics: Devices, Mat. Technol. XX (Vol. 9750, pp. 135–142). Spie.
Abstract: We report on the design, fabrication and measurement of travelling-wave superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) integrated with polycrystalline diamond photonic circuits. We analyze their performance both in the near-infrared wavelength regime around 1600 nm and at 765 nm. Near-IR detection is important for compatibility with the telecommunication infrastructure, while operation in the visible wavelength range is relevant for compatibility with the emission line of silicon vacancy centers in diamond which can be used as efficient single-photon sources. Our detectors feature high critical currents (up to 31 μA) and high performance in terms of efficiency (up to 74% at 765 nm), noise-equivalent power (down to 4.4×10-19 W/Hz1/2 at 765 nm) and timing jitter (down to 23 ps).
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Bulaevskii, L. N., Graf, M. J., & Kogan, V. G. (2012). Vortex-assisted photon counts and their magnetic field dependence in single-photon superconducting detectors. Phys. Rev. B, 85(1), 9.
Abstract: We argue that photon counts in a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) are caused by the transition from a current-biased metastable superconducting state to the normal state. Such a transition is triggered by vortices crossing the thin and narrow superconducting strip from one edge to another due to the Lorentz force. Detector counts in SNSPDs may be caused by three processes: (a) a single incident photon with sufficient energy to break enough Cooper pairs to create a normal-state belt across the entire width of the strip (direct photon count), (b) thermally induced single-vortex crossing in the absence of photons (dark count), which at high-bias currents releases the energy sufficient to trigger the transition to the normal state in a belt across the whole width of the strip, and (c) a single incident photon of insufficient energy to create a normal-state belt but initiating a subsequent single-vortex crossing, which provides the rest of the energy needed to create the normal-state belt (vortex-assisted single-photon count). We derive the current dependence of the rate of vortex-assisted photon counts. The resulting photon count rate has a plateau at high currents close to the critical current and drops as a power law with high exponent at lower currents. While the magnetic field perpendicular to the film plane does not affect the formation of hot spots by photons, it causes the rate of vortex crossings (with or without photons) to increase. We show that by applying a magnetic field one may characterize the energy barrier for vortex crossings and identify the origin of dark counts and vortex-assisted photon counts.
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