Optical quantum information science and technologies require the capability to generate, control, and detect single or multiple quanta of light. The need to detect individual photons has motivated the development of a variety of novel and refined single-photon detectors (SPDs) with enhanced detector performance. Superconducting nanowire single-phot...
Published in Superconductor Science and Technology
We demonstrate the fabrication of micron-wide tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on a silicon substrate using laser lithography. We show saturated internal detection efficiencies with wire widths ranging from 0.59 µm to 1.43 µm under illumination at 1550 nm. We demonstrate both straight wires, as well as meandered st...
Published in Journal of biomedical optics
Time-domain functional near-infrared spectroscopy (TD-fNIRS) has been considered as the gold standard of noninvasive optical brain imaging devices. However, due to the high cost, complexity, and large form factor, it has not been as widely adopted as continuous wave NIRS systems. Kernel Flow is a TD-fNIRS system that has been designed to break thro...
Quantum physics allows us a vision of Nature's forces that bind the world, all its seeds and sources. After decades of primarily scientific research, we've arrived at a stage in time where quantum technology can be applied to practical problems and add value outside the field. Four pillars of quantum technologies are commonly identified: quantum co...
Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are arrays of single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) connected in parallel. Analog silicon photomultipliers are built in custom technologies optimized for detection efficiency. Digital silicon photomultipliers are built in CMOS technology. Although CMOS SPADs are less sensitive, they can incorporate additional funct...
Published in Physics of Atomic Nuclei
AbstractThe results of the formation of an original material based on thin films of metal nanoclusters and the investigation of its chemical composition, surface morphology, and structure are presented. Monodisperse thin films comprised of individual nanoclusters of Ta, Mo, and Ni metals were manufactured by gas-phase magnetron sputtering. Images o...
Published in Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
High detection efficiency appears to be associated with a high afterpulse probability for InP-based single-photon avalanche diodes. In this paper, we present a new hybrid quenching technique that combines the advantages of both fast active quenching and high-frequency gated-passive quenching, with the aim of suppressing higher-order afterpulsing ef...
Published in Nanomaterials
The discovery of iron-based superconductors paved the way for advanced possible applications, mostly in high magnetic fields, but also in electronics. Among superconductive devices, nanowire detectors have raised a large interest in recent years, due to their ability to detect a single photon in the visible and infrared (IR) spectral region. Althou...
Published in EPJ Quantum Technology
Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are a practical option for space-based quantum communications requiring single-photon detection. However, radiation damage to APDs significantly increases their dark count rates and thus reduces their useful lifetimes in orbit. We show that high-power laser annealing of irradiated APDs of three different models (Excelit...
In this paper several designs to maximize the absorption efficiency of superconducting-nanowire single-photon detectors are investigated. Using a simple optical cavity consisting of a gold mirror and a SiO2 layer, the absorption efficiency can be boosted to over 97%: this result is confirmed experimentally by the realization of an NbTiN-based detec...
