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Shcherbatenko, M., Lobanov, Y., Semenov, A., Kovalyuk, V., Korneev, A., Ozhegov, R., et al. (2016). Potential of a superconducting photon counter for heterodyne detection at the telecommunication wavelength. Opt. Express, 24(26), 30474–30484.
Abstract: Here, we report on the successful operation of a NbN thin film superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) in a coherent mode (as a mixer) at the telecommunication wavelength of 1550 nm. Providing the local oscillator power of the order of a few picowatts, we were practically able to reach the quantum noise limited sensitivity. The intermediate frequency gain bandwidth (also referred to as response or conversion bandwidth) was limited by the spectral band of a single-photon response pulse of the detector, which is proportional to the detector size. We observed a gain bandwidth of 65 MHz and 140 MHz for 7 x 7 microm2 and 3 x 3 microm2 devices, respectively. A tiny amount of the required local oscillator power and wide gain and noise bandwidths, along with unnecessary low noise amplification, make this technology prominent for various applications, with the possibility for future development of a photon counting heterodyne-born large-scale array.
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Verevkin, A., Williams, C., Gol’tsman, G. N., Sobolewski, R., & Gilbert, G. (2001). Single-photon superconducting detectors for practical high-speed quantum cryptography. Optical Society of America.
Abstract: We have developed an ultrafast superconducting single-photon detector with negligible dark counting rate. The detector is based on an ultrathin, submicron-wide NbN meander-type stripe and can detect individual photons in the visible to near-infrared wavelength range at a rate of at least 10 Gb/s. The above counting rate allows us to implement the NbN device to unconditionally secret quantum key distRochester, New Yorkribution in a practical, high-speed system using real-time Vernam enciphering.
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Goltsman, G., Korneev, A., Izbenko, V., Smirnov, K., Kouminov, P., Voronov, B., et al. (2004). Nano-structured superconducting single-photon detectors. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 520(1-3), 527–529.
Abstract: NbN detectors, formed into meander-type, 10×10-μm2 area structures, based on ultrathin (down to 3.5-nm thickness) and nanometer-width (down to below 100 nm) NbN films are capable of efficiently detecting and counting single photons from the ultraviolet to near-infrared optical wavelength range. Our best devices exhibit QE >15% in the visible range and ∼10% in the 1.3–1.5-μm infrared telecommunication window. The noise equivalent power (NEP) ranges from ∼10−17 W/Hz1/2 at 1.5 μm radiation to ∼10−19 W/Hz1/2 at 0.56 μm, and the dark counts are over two orders of magnitude lower than in any semiconducting competitors. The intrinsic response time is estimated to be <30 ps. Such ultrafast detector response enables a very high, GHz-rate real-time counting of single photons. Already established applications of NbN photon counters are non-invasive testing and debugging of VLSI Si CMOS circuits and quantum communications.
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Sclafani, M., Marksteiner, M., Keir, F. M. L., Divochiy, A., Korneev, A., Semenov, A., et al. (2012). Sensitivity of a superconducting nanowire detector for single ions at low energy. Nanotechnol., 23(6), 065501 (1 to 5).
Abstract: We report on the characterization of a superconducting nanowire detector for ions at low kinetic energies. We measure the absolute single-particle detection efficiency eta and trace its increase with energy up to eta = 100%. We discuss the influence of noble gas adsorbates on the cryogenic surface and analyze their relevance for the detection of slow massive particles. We apply a recent model for the hot-spot formation to the incidence of atomic ions at energies between 0.2 and 1 keV. We suggest how the differences observed for photons and atoms or molecules can be related to the surface condition of the detector and we propose that the restoration of proper surface conditions may open a new avenue for SSPD-based optical spectroscopy on molecules and nanoparticles.
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Korneev, A., Lipatov, A., Okunev, O., Chulkova, G., Smirnov, K., Gol’tsman, G., et al. (2003). GHz counting rate NbN single-photon detector for IR diagnostics of VLSI CMOS circuits. Microelectronic Engineering, 69(2-4), 274–278.
Abstract: We present a new, simple to manufacture superconducting single-photon detector operational in the range from ultraviolet to mid-infrared radiation wavelengths. The detector combines GHz counting rate, high quantum efficiency and very low level of dark (false) counts. At 1.3–1.5 μm wavelength range our detector exhibits a quantum efficiency of 5–10%. The detector photoresponse voltage pulse duration was measured to be about 150 ps with jitter of 35 ps and both of them were limited mostly by our measurement equipment. In terms of quantum efficiency, dark counts level, speed of operation the detector surpasses all semiconductor counterparts and was successfully applied for CMOS integrated circuits diagnostics.
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