Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are the highest-performing technology for time-resolved single-photon counting from the UV to the near-infrared. The recent discovery of single-photon sensitivity in micrometer-scale superconducting wires is a promising pathway to explore for large active area devices with application to dark matter searches and fundamental physics experiments. We present 8-pixel 1 mm2 superconducting microwire single photon detectors (SMSPDs) with 1 μm-wide wires fabricated from WSi and MoSi films of various stoichiometries using electron-beam and optical lithography. Devices made from all materials and fabrication techniques show saturated internal detection efficiency at 1064 nm in at least one pixel, and the best performing device made from silicon-rich WSi shows single-photon sensitivity in all eight pixels and saturated internal detection efficiency in 6/8 pixels. This detector is the largest reported active-area SMSPD or SNSPD with near-IR sensitivity, and it extends the SMSPD to an array format. By further optimizing the photolithography techniques presented in this work, a viable pathway exists to realize larger devices with cm2-scale active area and beyond.

/pdf/large-active-area-superconducting-microwire-detector-array-21l37khy.pdf

Large active-area superconducting microwire detector array with single-photon sensitivity in the near-infrared

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are the highest
performing photon-counting technology in the near-infrared (NIR). Due to
delay-line effects, large area SNSPDs typically trade-off timing resolution and
detection efficiency. Here, we introduce a detector design based on
transmission line engineering and differential readout for device-level signal
conditioning, enabling a high system detection efficiency and a low detector
jitter, simultaneously. To make our differential detectors compatible with
single-ended time taggers, we also engineer analog differential-to-single-ended
readout electronics, with minimal impact on the system timing resolution. Our
niobium nitride differential SNSPDs achieve $47.3\,\% \pm 2.4\,\%$ system
detection efficiency and sub-$10\,\mathrm{ps}$ system jitter at
$775\,\mathrm{nm}$, while at $1550\,\mathrm{nm}$ they achieve $71.1\,\% \pm
3.7\,\%$ system detection efficiency and $13.1\,\mathrm{ps} \pm
0.4\,\mathrm{ps}$ system jitter. These detectors also achieve sub-100 ps timing
response at one one-hundredth maximum level, $30.7\,\mathrm{ps} \pm
0.4\,\mathrm{ps}$ at $775\,\mathrm{nm}$ and $47.6\,\mathrm{ps} \pm
0.4\,\mathrm{ps}$ at $1550\,\mathrm{nm}$, enabling time-correlated
single-photon counting with high dynamic range response functions. Furthermore,
thanks to the differential impedance-matched design, our detectors exhibit
delay-line imaging capabilities and photon-number resolution. The properties
and high-performance metrics achieved by our system make it a versatile
photon-detection solution for many scientific applications.

Impedance-matched differential superconducting nanowire detectors

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Impedance-matched differential superconducting nanowire detectors