Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have become the highest-performing type of single-photon detector, with demonstrations of near-unity detection efficiency, GHz count rate, and a broad wavelength range from UV to mid-IR. Scaling these detectors to large areas and pixel counts with minimal tradeoffs in their detection properties would expand the use case of SNSPDs to applications like astronomical spectroscopy, quantum imaging, or dark matter searches. In this talk, I will discuss a thermal coupling scheme enabling these large detector arrays and several array architectures to target the requirements of specific applications.
KEYWORDS: Detector arrays, Single photon detectors, Deep space optical communications, Superconductors, Receivers, Nanowires, Telecommunications, Design and modelling, Free space optics, Telescopes
With their high timing resolution, high detection efficiency, and large dynamic range, Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) are the ideal detectors for deep-space optical communication ground receivers. JPL has fabricated SNSPD detectors for four ground stations and fielded full detector systems at three of them as part of the upcoming Deep Space Optical Communication, RF/Optical Hybrid, and Optical to Orion projects. In this presentation, I will discuss the current status of these different detector systems and the technological advances that made them possible. I will also discuss the future improvements in SNSPD arrays necessary for next-generation optical communication ground stations.
KEYWORDS: Picosecond phenomena, Time correlated single photon counting, Imaging systems, Analog to digital converters, Superconductors, Single photon avalanche diodes, Nanowires, Quantum systems, Quantum imaging
The constant advancements in single-photon technologies have led to the development of detectors with amazingly low jitter, that can play an important role in quantum measurements. A major limitation to their full exploitation in practical applications is represented by the timing electronics that should possess both low jitter characteristics, as well as good speed, linearity, and full-scale range (FSR) performance. In this paper, we propose a new TACbased single-channel timing system that features a state-of-the-art timing jitter of 4.5 ps FWHM, along with a peak-to-peak DNL of 1.5% LSB and a speed of 12 Mcps, over a wide full-scale range of 12.5 ns. Thanks to the promising results achieved in experiments with SNSPDs, we are extending the system to eight channels, to leverage converter parallelization to further reduce timing jitter below 2 ps.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have become the gold standard for single photon detection at telecom wavelengths, and their high efficiency, high dynamic range, low timing jitter, and low dark count rates make them ideal for quantum applications. Many use cases benefit from arrays of SNSPDs, whether it’s to enable number resolution, to access higher maximum count rates, to cover larger active areas, or to provide imaging or spectroscopy capabilities. SNSPD array design typically involves a tradeoff between number of channels, active area, and timing properties. In this talk, I will discuss several applications of SNSPD arrays and describe how the applications’ different requirements affect the array and system-level design choices.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have long been the detector of choice for photon-counting applications in the near-infrared that demand high efficiency, high timing resolution and low dark counts. Extending the operation of these detectors to mid-infrared wavelengths above 2 µm would enable a host of applications in the fields of chemical and remote sensing, LIDAR and quantum optics. Pushing the range of these detectors deeper into the mid-infrared would also be of interest to the astronomical and dark matter communities. In this work we demonstrate long-wavelength sensitivity in SNSPDs by careful material and device optimization. We also show work towards efficient, low jitter devices in the mid-infrared.
Jason Allmaras, Boris Korzh, Andrew Beyer, Emma Wollman, Bruce Bumble, Ryan Rogalin, Erik Alerstam, Makan Mohageg, Meera Srinivasan, Daniel Hoppe, Matthew Shaw
In this work we describe the development, characterization, and integration of a 16-channel, 400-μm diameter active area, double-ended read-out NbTiN superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) array and the supporting electronics used in an RF/Optical hybrid telescope for deep-space laser communications. This is the first fielddemonstration of a multi-channel, co-wound, double-ended read-out SNSPD array. With the number and complexity of future space exploration missions expected to increase, NASA is investigating ways to augment the information capacity of the Deep Space Network (DSN) global array of RF receivers used to track and communicate with these spacecrafts. Optical communication offers a path toward increasing the overall bandwidth of the DSN while allowing for higher data throughput for the same size weight and power (SWAP) transmitter on the spacecraft. NASA’s RF/Optical Hybrid (RFO) program proposes using a segmented, 8-10-meter equivalent aperture primary mirror mounted on existing 34- meter diameter beam waveguide (BWG) RF antennas to couple light into photon counting detectors for pulse position modulation (PPM) and on-off keying (OOK) data formats. JPL has deployed a pathfinder hybrid telescope on a DSN BWG antenna in Goldstone, California. The pathfinder couples light from a 1.2-meter effective diameter, 7-hexagonalsegment mirror assembly to a 400-μm core graded-index multimode fiber. This fiber is then routed to a cryostat and coupled to an SNSPD array through free-space optics. Coupling from a large diameter fiber to an SNSPD array while maintaining a small number of readout channels from the cryostat presents some unique challenges for the SNSPD array and receiver design.
We will discuss recently-developed approaches to improve sensitivity of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors in the mid-infrared, showing saturated internal detection efficiency up to a wavelength of 10 microns. We will also show preliminary data from small 64-element SNSPD arrays with high internal detection efficiency in the midinfrared at 3.5 μm, and will discuss calibration techniques we are developing for measuring system detection efficiency in this region of the spectrum.
Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) excel at a wide variety of performance criteria for single photon counting. They combine unprecedented high detection efficiency, high timing resolution, high count rates, low intrinsic dark count rates, and are sensitive to ultraviolet through mid-infrared single-photons. At JPL, we are working on several projects to push the performance limits of SNSPDs to achieve higher maximum count rates, larger active areas, higher timing resolution, and a wider spectral range. Our recent advances enable new applications for dark matter detection, imaging, and space-to-ground communication and provide insight into the fundamental physics of single-photon detection in superconducting nanowires.
The Origins Space Telescope mission concept includes an exoplanet transit spectrometer that requires detector arrays with ultrahigh pixel-to-pixel stability. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, or SNSPDs, have the potential to meet these stringent stability requirements due to their digital-like output. Traditionally used for applications at near-IR telecom wavelengths, SNSPDs have demonstrated near-unity detection efficiencies, ultralow dark-count rates, and high dynamic ranges. Until recently, however, SNSPD operation at the mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths of interest for Origins had not been demonstrated, and SNSPD formats were limited to small arrays and active areas. Recent advances in SNSPD fabrication techniques have pushed SNSPD sensitivity to wavelengths beyond 7 μm and have enabled millimeter-scale active areas and kilopixel arrays. We report here on this progress and the outlook toward developing arrays of ultrastable superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors for mid-IR astronomy applications.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are excellent single-photon detectors from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared. System detection efficiencies of ~ 90% are typical, with jitters on the order of 100 ps and maximum count rates of a few MHz. Recently we have begun exploring the use of SNSPDs for the detection of single mid-infrared photons in the 2 - 11 μm wavelength range for applications in astronomy and chemical sensing. In particular, we are developing arrays of SNSPDs which could potentially be used for exoplanet spectroscopy in order to identify elements in the atmospheres of exoplanets outside our solar system. Improved sensitivity for these low-energy photons has been made possible by the recent development of amorphous WSi which is now used in the fabrication of superconducting nanowire detectors. I will discuss the optimization of these detectors to enhance their detection efficiency in the midinfrared, with the ultimate goal of building a single-photon focal plane array of SNSPDs in the 2 - 11 μm band.
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