Efficient Single Photon
Detection from 500 nm to 5
μm Wavelength
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Abstract
We report on superconducting nanowire single photon detectors
(SNSPDs)
based on 30 nm wide nanowires with detection efficiency η ∼
2.6–5.5% in the wavelength range λ = 0.5–5 μm.
We compared the sensitivity of 30 nm wide SNSPDs with the sensitivity
of SNSPDs based on wider (85 and 50 nm wide) nanowires for λ
= 0.5–5 μm. The detection efficiency of the detectors
based on the wider nanowires became negligible at shorter wavelengths
than the 30 nm wide SNSPDs. Our 30 nm wide SNSPDs showed 2 orders
of magnitude higher detection efficiency (η ∼ 2%) up
to longer wavelength (λ = 5 μm) than previously reported.
On the basis of our simulations, we expect that by changing the optical
coupling scheme and by integrating the detectors in an optical cavity,
the detection efficiency of our detectors could be increased by a
factor of ∼6