We experimentally demonstrate a supercurrent-assisted, hotspot-formation mechanism for ultrafast detection and counting of visible and infrared photons. A photon-induced hotspot leads to a temporary formation of a resistive barrier across the superconducting sensor strip and results in an easily measurable voltage pulse. Subsequent hotspot healing in ∼30 ps time frame, restores the superconductivity (zero-voltage state), and the detector is ready to register another photon. Our device consists of an ultrathin, very narrow NbN strip, maintained at 4.2 K and current-biased close to the critical current. It exhibits an experimentally measured quantum efficiency of ∼20% for 0.81 μm wavelength photons and negligible dark counts.
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Citation for published version (APA):Zinoni, C., Alloing, B., Li, L., Marsili, F., Fiore, A., Lunghi, L., ... Gol'tsman, G. N. (2007). Single-photon experiments at telecommunication wavelengths using nanowire superconducting detectors. Applied Physics Letters, 91(3), 031106-1/3. [031106]. DOI: 10.1063/1.2752108
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Take down policyIf you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. The authors report fiber-coupled superconducting single-photon detectors with specifications that exceed those of avalanche photodiodes, operating at telecommunication wavelength, in sensitivity, temporal resolution, and repetition frequency. The improved performance is demonstrated by measuring the intensity correlation function g ͑2͒ ͑͒ of single-photon states at 1300 nm produced by single semiconductor quantum dots.
Time resolution is one of the main characteristics of the single photon detectors besides quantum efficiency and dark count rate. We demonstrate here an ultrafast time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) setup consisting of a newly developed single photon counting board SPC-150NX and a superconducting NbN single photon detector with a sensitive area of 7 × 7 μm. The combination delivers a record instrument response function with a full width at half maximum of 17.8 ps and system quantum efficiency ∼15% at wavelength of 1560 nm. A calculation of the root mean square value of the timing jitter for channels with counts more than 1% of the peak value yielded about 7.6 ps. The setup has also good timing stability of the detector-TCSPC board.
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