%0 Journal Article
%T Fibre-coupled, single photon detector based on NbN superconducting nanostructures for quantum communications
%A Słysz, W.
%A Wegrzecki, M.
%A Bar, J.
%A Grabiec, P.
%A Górska, M.
%A Zwiller, V.
%A Latta, C.
%A Böhi, P.
%A Pearlman, A. J.
%A Cross, A. S.
%A Pan, D.
%A Kitaygorsky, J.
%A Komissarov, I.
%A Verevkin, A.
%A Milostnaya, I.
%A Korneev, A.
%A Minayeva, O.
%A Chulkova, G.
%A Smirnov, K.
%A Voronov, B.
%A Gol’tsman, G. N.
%A Sobolewski, R.
%J J. Modern Opt.
%D 2007
%V 54
%N 2-3
%@ 0950-0340
%F Slysz_etal2007
%O exported from refbase (https://db.rplab.ru/refbase/show.php?record=1434), last updated on Sun, 16 May 2021 16:43:52 -0500
%X We present a novel, two-channel, single photon receiver based on two fibre-coupled, NbN, superconducting, single photon detectors (SSPDs). The SSPDs are nanostructured superconducting meanders and are known for ultrafast and efficient detection of visible-to-infrared photons. Coupling between the NbN detector and optical fibre was achieved using a micromechanical photoresist ring placed directly over the SSPD, holding the fibre in place. With this arrangement, we obtained coupling efficiencies up to ∼30%. Our experimental results showed that the best receiver had a near-infrared system quantum efficiency of 0.33% at 4.2 K. The quantum efficiency increased exponentially with the photon energy increase, reaching a few percent level for visible-light photons. The photoresponse pulses of our devices were limited by the meander high kinetic inductance and had the rise and fall times of approximately 250 ps and 5 ns, respectively. The receiver's timing jitter was in the 37 to 58 ps range, approximately 2 to 3 times larger than in our older free-space-coupled SSPDs. We stipulate that this timing jitter is in part due to optical fibre properties. Besides quantum communications, the two-detector arrangement should also find applications in quantum correlation experiments.
%K NbN SSPD
%K SNSPD
%R 10.1080/09500340600779496
%U http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09500340600779496
%U https://doi.org/10.1080/09500340600779496
%P 315-326