A photon-number-resolving detector based on a four-element superconducting nanowire single photon detector is demonstrated to have sub-30-ps resolution in measuring the arrival time of individual photons. This detector can be used to characterize the photon statistics of non-pulsed light sources and to mitigate dead-time effects in high-speed photon counting applications. Furthermore, a 25% system detection efficiency at 1550 nm was demonstrated, making the detector useful for both low-flux source characterization and high-speed photon-counting and quantum communication applications. The design, fabrication and testing of this detector are described, and a comparison between the measured and theoretical performance is presented.Keywords: photon-number-resolution; superconducting nanowire single photon detector; timing jitter; system detection efficiency _____________________ *Corresponding author. Email: edauler@mit.edu
Photon-number-resolution with sub-30-ps timing using multi-element superconducting nanowire single photon detectorsA photon-number-resolving detector based on a four-element superconducting nanowire single photon detector is demonstrated to have sub-30-ps resolution in measuring the arrival time of individual photons. This detector can be used to characterize the photon statistics of non-pulsed light sources and to mitigate dead-time effects in high-speed photon counting applications. Furthermore, a 25% system detection efficiency at 1550 nm was demonstrated, making the detector useful for both low-flux source characterization and high-speed photon-counting and quantum communication applications. The design, fabrication and testing of this detector are described, and a comparison between the measured and theoretical performance is presented.
We demonstrate 1550 nm photon-counting optical communications with a NbN-nanowire superconducting single-photon detector. Source data are encoded with a rate-1/2 forward-error correcting code and transmitted by use of 32-ary pulse-position modulation at 5 and 10 GHz slot rates. Error-free performance is obtained with -0.5 detected photon per source bit at a source data rate of 781 Mbits/s. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest reported data rate for a photon-counting receiver.
Space-to-ground optical communication systems can benefit from reducing the size, weight, and power profiles of space terminals. One way of reducing the required power-aperture product on a space platform is to implement effective, but costly, single-aperture ground terminals with large collection areas. In contrast, we present a ground terminal receiver architecture in which many small less-expensive apertures are efficiently combined to create a large effective aperture while maintaining excellent receiver sensitivity. This is accomplished via coherent detection behind each aperture followed by digitization. The digitized signals are then combined in a digital signal processing chain. Experimental results demonstrate lossless coherent combining of four lasercom signals, at power levels below 0.1 photons/bit/aperture.
The Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration (LLCD) successfully demonstrated for the first time duplex laser communications between a lunar-orbiting satellite and ground stations on Earth with error-free downlink data rates up to 622 Mb/s utilizing an optical receiver based on photon-counting superconducting nanowires and operating near 1550 nm.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.