Rosfjord, K. M., Yang, J. K. W., Dauler, E. A., Kerman, A. J., Vikas Anant, Voronov, B. M., et al. (2006). Nanowire Single-photon detector with an integrated optical cavity and anti-reflection coating. Opt. Express, 14(2), 527–534.
Abstract: We have fabricated and tested superconducting single-photon detectors and demonstrated detection efficiencies of 57% at 1550-nm wavelength and 67% at 1064 nm. In addition to the peak detection efficiency, a median detection efficiency of 47.7% was measured over 132 devices at 1550 nm. These measurements were made at 1.8K, with each device biased to 97.5% of its critical current. The high detection efficiencies resulted from the addition of an optical cavity and anti-reflection coating to a nanowire photodetector, creating an integrated nanoelectrophotonic device with enhanced performance relative to the original device. Here, the testing apparatus and the fabrication process are presented. The detection efficiency of devices before and after the addition of optical elements is also reported.
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Anant, V., Kerman, A. J., Dauler, E. A., Yang, J. K. W., Rosfjord, Kine M., & Berggren, K. K. (2008). Optical properties of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. Opt. Express, 16(14), 10750.
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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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