Photonics Research, 2020, 8 (4): 04000601, Published Online: Mar. 31, 2020
Superconducting nanowire multi-photon detectors enabled by current reservoirs Download: 574次
Abstract
Single-photon detectors are ubiquitous devices in quantum-photonic-based communication, computation, metrology, and sensing. In these applications, -fold coincidence photon counting is often needed, for example, to characterize entanglement. However, -fold coincidence photon counting typically requires individual single-photon detectors and associated bias and readout electronics, and these resources could become prohibitive if goes large and the detectors need to work at cryogenic temperatures. Here, to break this limit on , we propose a device architecture based on cascaded photosensitive superconducting nanowires and one wider nanowire that functions as a current reservoir. We show that by strategically designing the device, the network of these superconducting nanowires can work in a synergic manner as an -photon detector, where can be from 1 to , depending on the bias conditions. We therefore name the devices of this type superconducting nanowire multi-photon detectors (SNMPDs). In addition to its simple one-port bias and readout circuitry, the coincidences are counted internally in the detector, eliminating the need for external multi-channel, time-correlated pulse counters. We believe that the SNMPDs proposed in this work could open avenues towards conveniently measuring high-order temporal correlations of light and characterizing multi-photon entanglement.
Kai Zou, Yun Meng, Zhao Wang, Xiaolong Hu. Superconducting nanowire multi-photon detectors enabled by current reservoirs[J]. Photonics Research, 2020, 8(4): 04000601.