Superconducting Single-Photon Spectrometer with 3D-Printed Photonic-Crystal Filters

Abstract

Single-photon spectrometers utilizing optical spectral components and single-photon detectors have shown exceptional spectral resolving capability with single-photon sensitivity, enabling numerous spectroscopy applications in photon-scarce environments. Here, we report a compact computational spectrometer combining a superconducting single-photon detector array and 3D-printed photonic-crystal filters. The unknown light source is encoded by passing through the 3D-printed filters with various spectral transmissions, detected by a broadband superconducting single-photon detector array, and finally computationally reconstructed using the known spectral features of each array element. The fabricated spectrometer shows system sensitivity down to powers of −108.2 dBm at 1310 nm and achieves a resolution of 5 nm ranging from 1200 to 1700 nm.

Photon counting carbon dioxide gas sensing at 2.05μm wavelength

“…Another potential approach is to utilize a spectrometer to directly observe the absorption from a wide band illumination source, potentially allowing characterization on mixtures of different gases. SNSPDs spectrometers have been demonstrated [20], [25] and would be a suitable candidate for this type of measurement method, provided a narrow enough wavelength resolution can be achieved. For this work the line selected was purely chosen for the desirable SNR observed with the current setup.…”

“…Closed cycle cooling solutions have driven their commercial success which means today high-performance turn-key solutions are now available [15]. These attributes have enabled an increasing range of applications such single-photon depth imaging LIDAR [16], Quantum key distribution [17]- [19] and spectroscopy [20].…”

Two‐Photon Polymerization Lithography for Optics and Photonics: Fundamentals, Materials, Technologies, and Applications

“…[604] Single-photon detectors operating in the infrared region have also been fabricated by TPL. [605] As seen so far, TPL offers the capability to fabricate complex 3D structures for color printing.…”

“…[ 604 ] Single‐photon detectors operating in the infrared region have also been fabricated by TPL. [ 605 ]…”

“…[604] Single-photon detectors operating in the infrared region have also been fabricated by TPL. [605] As seen so far, TPL offers the capability to fabricate complex 3D structures for color printing. However, it has a drawback of low throughput due to its serial patterning process that takes long hours to print an area spanning a few millimeters.…”