Light scattering by biological tissues sets a limit to the penetration depth of high-resolution optical microscopy imaging of live mammals in vivo. An effective approach to reduce light scattering and increase imaging depth is by extending the excitation and emission wavelengths to the > 1000 nm second near-infrared (NIR-II), also called the short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) window. Here, we show biocompatible core-shell lead sulfide/cadmium sulfide (PbS/CdS) quantum dots emitting at ~1880 nm and superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPD) for single-photon detection up to 2000 nm, enabling one-photon excitation fluorescence imaging window in the 1700–2000 nm (NIR-IIc) range with 1650 nm excitation, the longest one-photon excitation and emission for in vivo mouse imaging to date. Confocal fluorescence imaging in NIR-IIc reached an imaging depth of ~ 1100 μm through intact mouse head, and enabled non-invasive cellular-resolution imaging in the inguinal lymph nodes (LNs) of mice without any surgery. We achieve In vivo molecular imaging of high endothelial venules (HEVs) with diameter down to ~ 6.6 μm and CD169+ macrophages and CD3+ T cells in the lymph nodes, opening the possibility of non-invasive intravital imaging of immune trafficking in lymph nodes at the single-cell/vessel level longitudinally.
Single photon detectors are indispensable tools in optics, from fundamental measurements to quantum information processing. The ability of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) to detect single photons with unprecedented efficiency, short dead time, and high time resolution over a large frequency range enabled major advances in quantum optics. However, combining near-unity system detection efficiency (SDE) with high timing performance remains an outstanding challenge. In this work, we fabricated novel SNSPDs on membranes with 99.5−2.07+0.5% SDE at 1350 nm with 32 ps timing jitter (using a room-temperature amplifier), and other detectors in the same batch showed 94%–98% SDE at 1260–1625 nm with 15–26 ps timing jitter (using cryogenic amplifiers). The SiO2/Au membrane enables broadband absorption in small SNSPDs, offering high detection efficiency in combination with high timing performance. With low-noise cryogenic amplifiers operated in the same cryostat, our efficient detectors reach a timing jitter in the range of 15–26 ps. We discuss the prime challenges in optical design, device fabrication, and accurate and reliable detection efficiency measurements to achieve high performance single photon detection. As a result, the fast developing fields of quantum information science, quantum metrology, infrared imaging, and quantum networks will greatly benefit from this far-reaching quantum detection technology.
Single-photon detection with high efficiency, high timing resolution, low dark counts and high photon detection-rates is crucial for a wide range of optical measurements. Although efficient detectors have been reported before, combining all performance parameters in a single device remains a challenge. Here, we show a broadband NbTiN superconducting nanowire detector with an efficiency exceeding 92 %, over 150 MHz photon detection-rate, a dark count-rate below 130 Hz, operated in a Gifford-McMahon cryostat. Furthermore, with careful optimization of the detector design and readout electronics, we reach an ultra-low system timing jitter of 14.80 ps (13.95 ps decoupled) while maintaining high detection efficiencies.
Single-photon sources and detectors are indispensable building blocks for integrated quantum photonics, a research eld that is seeing ever increasing interest for numerous applications. In this work we implemented essential components for a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) transceiver on a single photonic chip. Plasmonic antennas 1 on top of silicon nitride waveguides provide Purcell enhancement with a concurrent increase of the count rate, speeding up the microsecond radiative lifetime of IR-emitting colloidal PbS/CdS Quantum Dots (QDs). The use of low-uorescence silicon nitride with a waveguide loss smaller than 1 dB/cm, made it possible to implement high extinction ratio optical lters and low insertion loss spectrometers. Waveguide-coupled Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) allow for low time-jitter single-photon detection. To showcase the performance of the components, we demonstrate on-chip lifetime spectroscopy of PbS/CdS QDs. The method developed in this paper is predicted to scale down to single QDs and newly developed emitters can be readily integrated on the chip-based platform.
A broad range of scientific and industrial disciplines require precise optical measurements at very low light levels. Single-photon detectors combining high efficiency and high time resolution are pivotal in such experiments. By using relatively thick films of NbTiN (8−11 nm) and improving the pattern fidelity of the nanostructure of the superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD), we fabricated devices demonstrating superior performance over all previously reported detectors in the combination of efficiency and time resolution. Our findings prove that small variations in the nanowire width, in the order of a few nanometers, can lead to a significant penalty on their temporal response. Addressing these issues, we consistently achieved high time resolution (best device 7.7 ps, other devices ∼10−16 ps) simultaneously with high system detection efficiencies (80−90%) in the wavelength range of 780−1000 nm, as well as in the telecom bands (1310−1550 nm). The use of thicker films allowed us to fabricate large-area multipixel devices with homogeneous pixel performance. We first fabricated and characterized a 100 × 100 μm 2 16-pixel detector and showed there was little variation among individual pixels. Additionally, to showcase the power of our platform, we fabricated and characterized 4-pixel multimode fiber-coupled detectors and carried out photon-correlation experiments on a nanowire quantum dot resulting in g 2 (0) values lower than 0.04. The multipixel detectors alleviate the need for beamsplitters and can be used for higher order correlations with promising prospects not only in the field of quantum optics, but also in bioimaging applications, such as fluorescence microscopy and positron emission tomography.
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