Superconducting niobium nanowire single photon detectors

A. J. Annunziata; A. Frydman; M. O. Reese; L. Frunzio; M. Rooks; D. E. Prober

doi:10.1117/12.686301

3 November 2006 Superconducting niobium nanowire single photon detectors

A. J. Annunziata, A. Frydman, M. O. Reese, L. Frunzio, M. Rooks, D. E. Prober

Proceedings Volume 6372, Advanced Photon Counting Techniques; 63720V (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.686301
Event: Optics East 2006, 2006, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Abstract

We have fabricated and tested single photon detectors based on a current biased superconducting niobium nanowire patterned into a meander. The detectors are fabricated from high quality, ultra high vacuum sputtered niobium thin films on a sapphire substrate. For detection of single optical photons, we show that the superconductor's intrinsic kinetic inductance does not limit the reset time of the detector, which is ≈ 2 nanoseconds, in contrast to the longer reset times seen in niobium nitride detectors of similar size and geometry. We also describe a readout scheme for photon counting that is unique to Nb due to its lower resistivity. These detectors have applications in imaging of infrared photoemission from CMOS logic circuits as well as in optical communications and quantum information processing.

Citation Download Citation

A. J. Annunziata, A. Frydman, M. O. Reese, L. Frunzio, M. Rooks, and D. E. Prober "Superconducting niobium nanowire single photon detectors", Proc. SPIE 6372, Advanced Photon Counting Techniques, 63720V (3 November 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.686301

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