Abstract
Niobium nitride (NbN) nanowires have a high repetition rate and efficiency, making them ideal for superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs). However, it is difficult to fabricate NbN arrays over large areas, which is critical for various applications. This paper describes a 4 × 4 NbN SNSPD array (16 pixels) and optical coupling with a 300-μm-diameter multimode fiber using beam compression technology. This is the first NbN SNSPD coupled with such large-diameter fibers. The designed pixels are positioned as closely as possible (pixel filling factor about 98.5%), almost without dead area between them. This results in a system efficiency of 46% and a quantum efficiency of 94.5% for photons (λ = 1064 nm) coupled from multimode fibers. An intrinsic time resolution of less than 69 ps can be obtained. The proposed high-performance single photon detector is suitable for satellite laser ranging. Furthermore, the proposed system is feasible for large SNSPD arrays with NbN, paving the way for the development of efficient photon cameras with NbN nanowires.
Highlights
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) have created a revolution in detector performance and scientific applications [1]
Photons emitted by the laser were attenuated by a variable attenuator and coupled onto the detection area using beam compression technology
A multimode fiber with a diameter of up to 300 μm was introduced into the optical path via beam compression technology, greatly reducing the difficulty of optical coupling and the photon loss caused by this coupling process
Summary
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) have created a revolution in detector performance and scientific applications [1]. Since the first SNSPD, composed of a 1-μm-long, 200nm-wide nanowire, was reported [2], SNSPDs have reached 93% detection efficiency [3], sub-10 ps time jitter [4], and less than 0.01 cps dark count rate [5]. The detector is known to be a high-performance single photon detector suitable for satellite laser ranging [24], [25] It demonstrates the feasibility of constructing a large SNSPD array using NbN, and paves the way for the development of high-efficiency photon cameras using NbN nanowires
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