UV superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors with high efficiency, low noise, and 4 K operating temperature

Optics Express
E E WollmanM D Shaw

Abstract

For photon-counting applications at ultraviolet wavelengths, there are currently no detectors that combine high efficiency (> 50%), sub-nanosecond timing resolution, and sub-Hz dark count rates. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have seen success over the past decade for photon-counting applications in the near-infrared, but little work has been done to optimize SNSPDs for wavelengths below 400 nm. Here, we describe the design, fabrication, and characterization of UV SNSPDs operating at wavelengths between 250 and 370 nm. The detectors have active areas up to 56 μm in diameter, 70 - 80% efficiency at temperatures up to 4.2 K, timing resolution down to 60 ps FWHM, blindness to visible and infrared photons, and dark count rates of ∼ 0.25 counts/hr for a 56 μm diameter pixel. These performance metrics make UV SNSPDs ideal for applications in trapped-ion quantum information processing, lidar studies of the upper atmosphere, UV fluorescent-lifetime imaging microscopy, and photon-starved UV astronomy.

Citations

Sep 13, 2019·Optics Express·Xintong HouXiaoming Xie
Aug 18, 2018·Optics Express·Thomas GerritsSae Woo Nam
Nov 9, 2019·Physical Review Letters·Yonit HochbergKarl K Berggren
Mar 4, 2020·Optics Express·Prasana RavindranJoseph C Bardin
Jan 1, 2018·Superconductor Science & Technology·Adam N McCaughan
Jul 1, 2019·The Review of Scientific Instruments·P MickeJ R Crespo López-Urrutia
Sep 13, 2019·Optics Express·Ronan GourguesIman Esmaeil Zadeh
Dec 15, 2018·Optics Letters·Alexander DivochiyPiotr Kolenderski
Jun 13, 2020·Scientific Reports·Marc de CeaRajeev J Ram
Sep 13, 2019·Optics Express·Tzula B Propp, S J van Enk
Feb 25, 2020·Nano Letters·Jason P AllmarasMatthew D Shaw
Nov 4, 2021·Nano Letters·Lingdong KongPeiheng Wu

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