PT Journal
AU Marsili, F
   Verma, VB
   Stern, JA
   Harrington, S
   Lita, AE
   Gerrits, T
   Vayshenker, I
   Baek, B
   Shaw, MD
   Mirin, RP
   Nam, SW
TI Detecting single infrared photons with 93% system efficiency
SO Nat. Photon.
PY 2013
BP 210
EP 214
VL 7
IS 3
DI 10.1038/nphoton.2013.13
DE SSPD quantum efficiency
AB Single-photon detectors1 at near-infrared wavelengths with high system detection efficiency (>90%), low dark count rate (<1 c.p.s.), low timing jitter (<100 ps) and short reset time (<100 ns) would enable landmark experiments in a variety of fields2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Although some of the existing approaches to single-photon detection fulfil one or two of the above specifications1, to date, no detector has met all of the specifications simultaneously. Here, we report on a fibre-coupled single-photon detection system that uses superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors7 and closely approaches the ideal performance of single-photon detectors. Our detector system has a system detection efficiency (including optical coupling losses) greater than 90% in the wavelength range λ = 1,520–1,610 nm, with a device dark count rate (measured with the device shielded from any background radiation) of ~1 c.p.s., timing jitter of ~150 ps full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) and reset time of 40 ns.
ER