Single photon detection with nanowires

Transcription

1 Single photon detection with nanowires Val Zwiller, L. Schweickert, J. Zichi, K. Jöns, M. Versteegh, A. Elshaari, L. Yang, M. Bavinck, A. Fognini, I. Zadeh Quantum Nano Photonics Applied Physics KTH zwillerlab.tudelft.nl

2 Outline Why superconducting nanowire detectors? Operation principle Spinoff company The road ahead: our to do list Applications already demonstrated

3 Our research goals To generate, manipulate and detect light at the single photon level. Nanowires offer exciting potentials: bright emitters of single and entangled photons, plasmonic waveguides and high-performance single photon detectors.

4 See poster by Lucas Schweickert describing our work on single and entangled photons generation.

5 Superconducting nanowire detectors?

6 Why superconducting detectors? Unique advantages: Sensitive from UV to MIR Highest efficiency for NIR Short dead time: < 5 ns Time jitter < 50 ps Low noise: dark counts < 20 Hz

7 Superconducting Nanowire Detectors Start from thin NbTiN film (~4 nm thick) Define meander by e-beam and etching Nb/AuPd contacts Etch plug holder Pigtail to an optical fiber

8 Detection principle Photon absorption model in superconducting nanowires Absorption of photon in nanowire creates resistive segment Current density J wire > J critical Resistive barrier is formed: we have a single photon activated switch. Fundamental understanding of the detection process still to be understood in details.

9 Detection pulse

10 High efficiency, low noise

11 High efficiency, low noise

12 Single Quantum: spinoff from our group 2007 Zwiller group at TU Delft started research on SNSPDs 2011 Dutch valorization grant ( ) 2012 Single Quantum incorporated 2015 Over 15 systems installed worldwide 10 employees Based on the PhD work of Sander Dorenbos.

13 Single Quantum Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors: more than replacing APDs, we bring new functionalities. Complementary to academic research group: Permanent jobs for group members, self-funded research and development. Currently using Nanofabrication facilities at TU Delft.

14 Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detector High detection efficiency in near infrared: 80% Low timing jitter: 40 ps Robust fiber coupling Low dark count No afterpulsing Easy to use - plug & play No helium consumption

15 Closed-cycle cryogenic cooling: Curing cryophobia Plug & play cooling : no liquid helium refills. Simple operation. Base temperature: 2.5 K. Cheaper than liquid helium: save money and allows for very long continuous measurements. Operation at low temperatures is now trivial and invisible. Cryophobia is cured!

16 Electronics and software Single Quantum has deveoped complete systems with dedicated electronics and driver software.

17 The road ahead for superconducting detectors

18 Superconducting thin films at KTH New system at Albanova to make NbN films New designs will enable single photon detection in the MIR. Time resolution: where is the limit? Detection efficiency: how close from unity can we get? Integrate detectors on circuits (SiN, LiNbO3..)

19 1- Better timing resolution Cryogenic first-stage amplification First results: With optimized input impedance: expected <30 ps timing jitter. Question: where is the limit?

20 2- Multimode fiber-coupling Lensed (tapered) fibers Multimode fiber with 50/100 micron core diameter Coupling to multimode fibers enables new implementations.

21 3- Extended wavelength sensitivity Deeper in the UV Further in the infrared At the moment the limitation is the fiber transmission.

22 4- Multipixel Towards a single photon camera, photon number resolution (ERC project). A multipixel detector enables photon number resolution (distinguish between 1 and 2 photons). 5- Opening the mid-ir for single photon detection Applications such as atmospheric pollution monitoring will gain from fast and efficient detectors in the MIR, among many other applications.

23 Applications of our detectors (so far) 1. near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy 2. quantum computing 3. quantum plasmonics 4. laser remote sensing 5. biomedical imaging 6. failure analysis in CMOS technology

24 Application 1: near- and mid-infrared spectroscopy Detection of the infrared luminescence of single defects in silicon-carbide to demonstrate their quantum behavior. (Run their detectors with Python drivers)

25 Application 2: quantum computing Measuring the interference of single photons propagating in complex integrated circuits as the first step towards a photonic quantum computer.

26 Application 3: quantum plasmonics On-chip detection of the interference of two plasmons at a beam splitter.

27 Application 4: laser remote sensing Kilometer-range, high resolution depth imaging via 1560 nm wavelength single-photon detection Aongus McCarthy et al. Optics Express, Vol. 21, Issue 7, pp (2013) High-sensitivity detection enabling remote laser communication and sensing at infrared eye-safe wavelengths, applied in deep space communications, Earth observation, and sensing.

28 Application 5: biomedical imaging Singlet oxygen luminescence detection with a fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detector Nathan R. Gemmell et al. Optics Express, Vol. 21, Issue 4, pp (2013) Detection of singlet oxygen luminescence for minimally-invasive endoscopic and intraoperative treatments.

29 Application 6: failure analysis in CMOS technology CMOS circuit analysis with luminescence measurements and simulations F. Stellari et al. IBM Watson Research Center & DEIB 28th European Solid-State Device Research Conference Florence, Italy, Sep Optical inspection as a powerful and versatile method for localizing and identifying defects and failures in integrated circuits.

30 See poster by Julien Zichi describing our planned work on superconducting detectors at KTH.

31 The team Single Quantum team Quantum Nano Photonics group Michael Reimer, Maaike Bavinck, Lucas Schweickert, K. Zeuner, Klaus Jöns : Nanowire QD Marijn Versteegh, Andreas Fognini, Ali Elshaari, Lily Yang: Hybrid QD Reinier Heeres, Sander Dorenbos, Iman Zadeh, Julien Zichi: Integrated optics Open PhD and postdoc positions.

32 Conclusion Superconducting nanowire detectors: Academic research meets industry. New and better detectors require fundamental research and will quickly open a wide range of new experiments and applications. Vinnova competence center on quantum sensing?