Position-Dependent Local Detection Efficiency in a Nanowire Superconducting Single-Photon Detector

Enhancing Detection Efficiency by Applying an Optical Cavity Structure in a Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector

We report on the enhancement of system detection efficiency in a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) by applying the optical cavity structure. The nanowire was made using 4nm-thick NbN thin films and covered with an SiO cavity and Au mirror designed for 1300–1600 nm wavelengths. The device is mounted into fibercoupled packages, and installed in a practical multichannel syste...

Superconducting-nanowire single-photon-detector linear array

Design of a polarization-insensitive superconducting nanowire single photon detector with high detection efficiency

Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) deliver superior performance over their competitors in the near-infrared regime. However, these detectors have an intrinsic polarization dependence on the incident wave because of their one-dimensional meander structure. In this paper, we propose an approach to eliminate the polarization sensitivity of SNSPDs by using near-field optics t...

Constriction-limited detection efficiency of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors

We investigate the source of large variations in the observed detection efficiencies of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors between many nominally identical devices. Through both electrical and optical measurements, we infer that these variations arise from “constrictions:” highly localized regions of the nanowires where the effective cross-sectional area for superconducting curren...

Polar-azimuthal angle dependent efficiency of different infrared superconducting nanowire single-photon detector designs

The illumination-angle-dependent absorptance was determined for three types of superconducting-nanowire singlephoton detector (SNSPD) designs: 1. periodic bare niobium-nitride (NbN) stripes with dimensions of conventional SNSPDs, 2. the same NbN patterns integrated with ~quarter-wavelength hydrogensilsesquioxane-filled nanocavity, 3. similar cavity-integrated structures covered by a thin gold r...