Design of broadband high-efficiency superconducting-nanowire single photon detectors

In this paper several designs to maximize the absorption efficiency of superconducting-nanowire single-photon detectors are investigated. Using a simple optical cavity consisting of a gold mirror and a SiO2 layer, the absorption efficiency can be boosted to over 97%: this result is confirmed experimentally by the realization of an NbTiN-based detector having an overall system detection efficiency of 85% at 1.31 μm. Calculations show that by sandwiching the nanowire between two dielectric Bragg reflectors, unity absorption (>99.9%) could be reached at the peak wavelength for optimized structures. To achieve broadband high efficiency, a different approach is considered: a waveguide-coupled detector. The calculations performed in this work show that, by correctly dimensioning the waveguide and the nanowire, polarization-insensitive detectors absorbing more than 95% of the injected photons over a wavelength range of several hundred nm can be designed. We propose a detector design making use of GaN/AlN waveguides, since these materials allow lattice-matched epitaxial deposition of Nb(Ti)N films and are transparent on a very wide wavelength range.

[1]  Fabrication of GaN‐based ridge waveguides with very smooth and vertical sidewalls by combined plasma dry etching and wet chemical etching , 2015 .

[2]  Vadim Kovalyuk,et al.  Waveguide integrated superconducting single-photon detectors with high internal quantum efficiency at telecom wavelengths , 2015, Scientific Reports.

[3]  Fabrication and Characterization of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors on Si Waveguide , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity.

[4]  L. You,et al.  Few-photon imaging at 1550 nm using a low-timing-jitter superconducting nanowire single-photon detector. , 2015, Optics express.

[5]  A. Tosi,et al.  InGaAs/InP Single-Photon Detector Gated at 1.3 GHz With 1.5% Afterpulsing , 2015, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[6]  H. Zbinden,et al.  High-efficiency superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors fabricated from MoSi thin-films. , 2015, Optics express.

[7]  Andrea Fiore,et al.  Waveguide Nanowire Superconducting Single-Photon Detectors Fabricated on GaAs and the Study of Their Optical Properties , 2015, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[8]  F. Stellari,et al.  Tuning of superconducting nanowire single-photon detector parameters for VLSI circuit testing using time-resolved emission , 2015, SPIE OPTO.

[9]  Ellen Schelew,et al.  Waveguide integrated superconducting single-photon detectors implemented as near-perfect absorbers of coherent radiation , 2014, Nature Communications.

[10]  Dirk Englund,et al.  On-chip detection of non-classical light by scalable integration of single-photon detectors , 2014, Nature Communications.

[11]  Andrea Bahgat Shehata,et al.  Ultra-Low Voltage TRE Measurements from 32 nm SOI CMOS Integrated Circuits , 2014 .

[12]  Val Zwiller,et al.  High-quality NbN nanofilms on a GaN/AlN heterostructure , 2014 .

[13]  Andrew Sharpe,et al.  Field trial of a quantum secured 10 Gb/s DWDM transmission system over a single installed fiber. , 2014, Optics express.

[14]  Alberto Tosi,et al.  Low-Noise, Low-Jitter, High Detection Efficiency InGaAs/InP Single-Photon Avalanche Diode , 2014, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.

[15]  Matthew E. Grein,et al.  Review of superconducting nanowire single-photon detector system design options and demonstrated performance , 2014 .

[16]  K. V. Smirnov,et al.  Superconducting single-photon detector made of MoSi film , 2013, 1309.7074.

[17]  M. Kamp,et al.  Waveguide photon-number-resolving detectors for quantum photonic integrated circuits , 2013, 1308.4606.

[18]  Eva Monroy,et al.  III-nitride semiconductors for intersubband optoelectronics: a review , 2013 .

[19]  G. Buller,et al.  Kilometer-range, high resolution depth imaging via 1560 nm wavelength single-photon detection. , 2013, Optics express.

[20]  V. B. Verma,et al.  Superconducting single photon detectors , 2013, 2013 Conference on Lasers & Electro-Optics Europe & International Quantum Electronics Conference CLEO EUROPE/IQEC.

[21]  H. Terai,et al.  High performance fiber-coupled NbTiN superconducting nanowire single photon detectors with Gifford-McMahon cryocooler. , 2013, Optics express.

[22]  Aongus McCarthy,et al.  Singlet oxygen luminescence detection with a fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detector , 2013, CLEO: 2013.

[23]  W. Pernice,et al.  NbTiN superconducting nanowire detectors for visible and telecom wavelengths single photon counting on Si3N4 photonic circuits , 2013, 1302.0786.

[24]  D. Rosenberg,et al.  High-speed and high-efficiency superconducting nanowire single photon detector array. , 2013, Optics express.

[25]  F. Marsili,et al.  Detecting single infrared photons with 93% system efficiency , 2012, Nature Photonics.

[26]  Jan Kischkat,et al.  Mid-infrared optical properties of thin films of aluminum oxide, titanium dioxide, silicon dioxide, aluminum nitride, and silicon nitride. , 2012, Applied optics.

[27]  H. Thacker,et al.  Ultralow-loss, high-density SOI optical waveguide routing for macrochip interconnects. , 2012, Optics express.

[28]  C. M. Natarajan,et al.  Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors: physics and applications , 2012, 1204.5560.

[29]  A. Sergienko,et al.  High-speed and high-efficiency travelling wave single-photon detectors embedded in nanophotonic circuits , 2011, Nature Communications.

[30]  J. P. Sprengers,et al.  Waveguide superconducting single-photon detectors for integrated quantum photonic circuits , 2011, 1108.5107.

[31]  Bryan S. Robinson,et al.  Design of a ground-based optical receiver for the lunar laser communications demonstration , 2011, 2011 International Conference on Space Optical Systems and Applications (ICSOS).

[32]  Sae Woo Nam,et al.  Compact cryogenic self-aligning fiber-to-detector coupling with losses below one percent. , 2011, Optics express.

[33]  Faraz Najafi,et al.  Single-photon detectors based on ultranarrow superconducting nanowires. , 2010, Nano letters.

[34]  Michael G. Tanner,et al.  Enhanced telecom wavelength single-photon detection with NbTiN superconducting nanowires on oxidized silicon , 2010 .

[35]  Masahide Sasaki,et al.  Compactly packaged superconducting nanowire single-photon detector with an optical cavity for multichannel system. , 2009, Optics express.

[36]  R. Hadfield.  Single-photon detectors for optical quantum information applications , 2009 .

[37]  Sae Woo Nam,et al.  Superconducting nanowire single-photon detector in an optical cavity for front-side illumination , 2009 .

[38]  S. Dorenbos,et al.  Low noise superconducting single photon detectors on silicon , 2008 .

[39]  Vikas Anant,et al.  Optical properties of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. , 2008, Optics express.

[40]  J. Stern,et al.  Fabrication and Characterization of Superconducting NbN Nanowire Single Photon Detectors , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity.

[41]  Anirban Bhattacharyya,et al.  Nonlinear optical waveguides based on near-infrared intersubband transitions in GaN/AlN quantum wells. , 2007, Optics express.

[42]  Vikas Anant,et al.  Nanowire single-photon detector with an integrated optical cavity and anti-reflection coating. , 2006, Optics express.

[43]  Gilles Brassard,et al.  Quantum Cryptography , 2005, Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security.

[44]  T. Tsuchizawa,et al.  Low loss mode size converter from 0.3 /spl mu/m square Si wire waveguides to singlemode fibres , 2002 .

[45]  Marc Ilegems,et al.  Infrared Lattice Vibrations and Free-Electron Dispersion in GaN , 1973 .

[46]  J. Pastrňák,et al.  Refraction Index Measurements on AlN Single Crystals , 1966 .

[47]  J. R. DeVore,et al.  Refractive Indices of Rutile and Sphalerite , 1951 .