%0 Journal Article %T Quantum efficiency and noise equivalent power of nanostructured, NbN, single-photon detectors in the wavelength range from visible to infrared %A Korneev, A. %A Matvienko, V. %A Minaeva, O. %A Milostnaya, I. %A Rubtsova, I. %A Chulkova, G. %A Smirnov, K. %A Voronov, V. %A Gol’tsman, G. %A Slysz, W. %A Pearlman, A. %A Verevkin, A. %A Sobolewski, R. %J IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercond. %D 2005 %V 15 %N 2 %@ 1558-2515 %F Korneev_etal2005 %O exported from refbase (https://db.rplab.ru/refbase/show.php?record=1467), last updated on Mon, 17 May 2021 16:59:03 -0500 %X We present our studies on the quantum efficiency (QE) and the noise equivalent power (NEP) of the latest-generation, nanostructured, superconducting, single-photon detectors (SSPDs) in the wavelength range from 0.5 to 5.6 /spl mu/m, operated at temperatures in the 2.0- to 4.2-K range. Our detectors are designed as 4-nm-thick and 100-nm-wide NbN meander-shaped stripes, patterned by electron-beam lithography and cover a 10/spl times/10-/spl mu/m/sup 2/ active area. The best-achieved QE at 2.0 K for 1.55-/spl mu/m photons is 17%, and QE for 1.3-/spl mu/m infrared photons reaches its saturation value of /spl sim/30%. The SSPD NEP at 2.0 K is as low as 5/spl times/10/sup -21/ W/Hz/sup -1/2/. Our nanostructured SSPDs, operated at 2.0 K, significantly outperform their semiconducting counterparts, and, together with their GHz counting rate and picosecond timing jitter, they are devices-of-choice for practical quantum key distribution systems and free-space (even interplanetary) quantum optical communications. %K NbN SSPD %K SNSPD %K QE %K NEP %R 10.1109/TASC.2005.849923 %U https://doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2005.849923 %P 571-574