Rosfjord KM, Yang JKW, Dauler EA, Kerman AJ, Vikas Anant, Voronov BM, et al. Nanowire Single-photon detector with an integrated optical cavity and anti-reflection coating. Opt Express. 2006;14(2):527–34.
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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Ferrari S, Kovalyuk V, Hartmann W, Vetter A, Kahl O, Lee C, et al. Hot-spot relaxation time current dependence in niobium nitride waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. Opt Express. 2017;25(8):8739–50.
Abstract: We investigate how the bias current affects the hot-spot relaxation dynamics in niobium nitride. We use for this purpose a near-infrared pump-probe technique on a waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detector driven in the two-photon regime. We observe a strong increase in the picosecond relaxation time for higher bias currents. A minimum relaxation time of (22 +/- 1)ps is obtained when applying a bias current of 50% of the switching current at 1.7 K bath temperature. We also propose a practical approach to accurately estimate the photon detection regimes based on the reconstruction of the measured detector tomography at different bias currents and for different illumination conditions.
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Lee J-H, Kim D-W, Wu Y-H, Yu C-J, Lee S-D, Wu S-T. High-speed infrared phase modulators using short helical pitch ferroelectric liquid crystals. Opt Express. 2005;13(20):7732.
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Stucki D, Barreiro C, Fasel S, Gautier J-D, Gay O, Gisin N, et al. Continuous high speed coherent one-way quantum key distribution. Opt Express. 2009;17(16):13326–34.
Abstract: Quantum key distribution (QKD) is the first commercial quantum technology operating at the level of single quanta and is a leading light for quantum-enabled photonic technologies. However, controlling these quantum optical systems in real world environments presents significant challenges. For the first time, we have brought together three key concepts for future QKD systems: a simple high-speed protocol; high performance detection; and integration both, at the component level and for standard fibre network connectivity. The QKD system is capable of continuous and autonomous operation, generating secret keys in real time. Laboratory and field tests were performed and comparisons made with robust InGaAs avalanche photodiodes and superconducting detectors. We report the first real world implementation of a fully functional QKD system over a 43dB-loss (150km) transmission line in the Swisscom fibre optic network where we obtained average real-time distribution rates over 3 hours of 2.5bps.
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Miller AJ, Lita AE, Calkins B, Vayshenker I, Gruber SM, Nam SW. Compact cryogenic self-aligning fiber-to-detector coupling with losses below one percent. Opt Express. 2011;19(10):9102–10.
Abstract: We present a compact packaging technique for coupling light from a single-mode telecommunication fiber to cryogenic single-photon sensitive devices. Our single-photon detectors are superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) with a collection area only a factor of a few larger than the area of the fiber core which presents significant challenges to low-loss fiber-to-detector coupling. The coupling method presented here has low loss, cryogenic compatibility, easy and reproducible assembly and low component cost. The system efficiency of the packaged single-photon counting detectors is verified by the “triplet method†of power-source calibration along with the “multiple attenuator†method that produces a calibrated single-photon flux. These calibration techniques, when used in combination with through-wafer imaging and fiber back-reflection measurements, give us confidence that we have achieved coupling losses below 1 % for all devices packaged according to the self-alignment method presented in this paper.
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