High-speed detection of 1550 nm single photons with superconducting nanowire detectors

Title	High-speed detection of 1550 nm single photons with superconducting nanowire detectors
Authors	Ioana Craiciu, Boris Korzh, Andrew D. Beyer, Andrew Mueller, Jason P. Allmaras, Lautaro Narváez, Maria Spiropulu, Bruce Bumble, Thomas Lehner, Emma E. Wollman, Matthew D. Shaw
Magazine	Optica
Date	01/26/2023
DOI	10.1364/OPTICA.478960
Introduction	Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors are essential in quantum information science due to their high efficiency, low timing jitter, and minimal dark counts. We introduce a detector for 1550 nm photons achieving up to 78% detection efficiency and timing jitter under 50 ps FWHM, with a dark count rate of 158 counts/s and a maximum count rate of 1.5 giga-counts/s at 3 dB compression. The PEACOQ detector, featuring a linear array of 32 niobium nitride nanowires across an optical fibre mode, excels in supporting high count rates with negligible efficiency and jitter penalties. We demonstrate mitigation of these trade-offs through independent readout for each nanowire and a temporal walk correction technique, making quantum communication feasible at a 10 GHz clock.
Quote	Ioana Craiciu, Boris Korzh and Andrew D. Beyer et al. High-speed detection of 1550 nm single photons with superconducting nanowire detectors. Optica. 2023. Vol. 10(2):183. DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.478960
Materials	Nitrides , Superconductors
Topics	Photonic and Optoelectronic Materials
Industry	Optics