Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors for Quantum Communication Applications

Abstract

Single-photon detectors are a key enabling technology for optical quantum information processing applications such as quantum key distribution. A new class of single-photon detectors have emerged based on superconducting nanowires. These detectors offer sensitivity at telecommunication wavelengths (1310nm and 1550nm) with low dark counts and excellent timing resolution at an operating temperature of ~4 K. We have integrated four independent fibre-coupled detectors into a practical closed-cycle refrigerator and plan to employ this multichannel detector system in advanced quantum information processing experiments.