• Photonics Research
  • Vol. 8, Issue 4, 601 (2020)
Kai Zou1、2, Yun Meng1、2, Zhao Wang1、2, and Xiaolong Hu1、2、*
Author Affiliations
  • 1School of Precision Instrument and Optoelectronic Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
  • 2Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Information Science and Technology, Ministry of Education, Tianjin 300072, China
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    DOI: 10.1364/PRJ.380764 Cite this Article Set citation alerts
    Kai Zou, Yun Meng, Zhao Wang, Xiaolong Hu. Superconducting nanowire multi-photon detectors enabled by current reservoirs[J]. Photonics Research, 2020, 8(4): 601 Copy Citation Text show less

    Abstract

    Single-photon detectors are ubiquitous devices in quantum-photonic-based communication, computation, metrology, and sensing. In these applications, N-fold coincidence photon counting is often needed, for example, to characterize entanglement. However, N-fold coincidence photon counting typically requires N individual single-photon detectors and associated bias and readout electronics, and these resources could become prohibitive if N goes large and the detectors need to work at cryogenic temperatures. Here, to break this limit on N, we propose a device architecture based on N 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 n-photon detector, where n can be from 1 to N, 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): 601
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