TY  - CONF
AU  - Verevkin, A. A.
AU  - Pearlman, A.
AU  - Slysz, W.
AU  - Zhang, J.
AU  - Sobolewski, R.
AU  - Chulkova, G.
AU  - Okunev, O.
AU  - Kouminov, P.
AU  - Drakinskij, V.
AU  - Smirnov, K.
AU  - Kaurova, N.
AU  - Voronov, B.
AU  - Gol’tsman, G.
AU  - Currie, M.
A2  - Quantum Information and Computation
ED  - Donkor, E.
ED  - Pirich, A. R.
ED  - Brandt, H. E.
PY  - 2003
DA  - 2003//
TI  - Ultrafast superconducting single-photon detectors for infrared wavelength quantum communications
T2  - Proc. SPIE
BT  - Proc. SPIE
SP  - 160
EP  - 170
VL  - 5105
PB  - SPIE
KW  - NbN SSPD
KW  - SNSPD
KW  - applications
KW  - single-photon detector
KW  - quantum cryptography
KW  - quantum communications
KW  - superconducting devices
AB  - We have developed a new class of superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) for ultrafast counting of infrared (IR) photons for secure quantum communications. The devices are operated on the quantum detection mechanism, based on the photon-induced hotspot formation and subsequent appearance of a transient resistive barrier across an ultrathin and submicron-wide superconducting stripe. The detectors are fabricated from 3.5-nm-thick NbN films and they operate at 4.2 K inside a closed-cycle refrigerator or liquid helium cryostat. Various continuous and pulsed laser sources have been used in our experiments, enabling us to determine the detector experimental quantum efficiency (QE) in the photon-counting mode, response time, time jitter, and dark counts. Our 3.5-nm-thick SSPDs reached QE above 15% for visible light photons and 5% at 1.3 - 1.5 μm infrared range. The measured real-time counting rate was above 2 GHz and was limited by the read-out electronics (intrinsic response time is <30 ps). The measured jitter was <18 ps, and the dark counting rate was <0.01 per second. The measured noise equivalent power (NEP) is 2 x 10[super:-18] W/Hz[super:1/2] at λ = 1.3 μm. In near-infrared range, in terms of the counting rate, jitter, dark counts, and overall sensitivity, the NbN SSPDs significantly outperform their semiconductor counterparts. An ultrafast quantum cryptography communication technology based on SSPDs is proposed and discussed.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1117/12.501197
DO  - 10.1117/12.501197
N1  - exported from refbase (https://db.rplab.ru/refbase/show.php?record=1514), last updated on Thu, 20 May 2021 19:03:58 -0500
ID  - Verevkin_etal2003
ER  -