Saturating Intrinsic Detection Efficiency of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors via Defect Engineering
Weijun Zhang, Qi Jia, Lixing You, Xin Ou, Hao Huang, Lu Zhang, Hao Li, Zhen Wang, Xiaoming Xie
DOI 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.12.044040 · Physical Review Applied
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Abstract
A superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) has played a significant role in numerous applications for visible and near-infrared photon detection. SNSPDs with high system detection efficiency (SDE greater than 90%) would enable remarkable experiments in quantum information processing. Currently, niobium nitride- (NbN) based SNSPDs are widely used in practical applications since they can operate in an inexpensive compact closed-cycle cryostat. However, it is a challenge to realize a NbN SNSPD with saturated intrinsic detection efficiency (IDE) while maintaining its high SDE at near-infrared wavelengths. We develop a postprocessing method to enhance the IDE of NbN SNSPDs to saturation without sacrificing SDE through defect engineering by a 20-keV helium ion irradiation. The enhancement of IDE is achieved because of the irradiation-induced reduction of the superconducting energy gap and the electron density of states at the Fermi level as determined by the electrical transport measurements. The change in the optical absorptance of the irradiated SNSPD is insignificant at the resonant wavelength as confirmed by the measured optical reflectance and SDE. By taking advantage of the IDE enhancement, the SDE of an irradiated device is significantly increased from 49% to 92% at 2.2 K for a 1550-nm wavelength.
Source-reported materials — not catalogue approval
| Formula | Reported Tc (K) | Pressure (GPa) | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| NbN Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula. | 9.58 | Pressure not reported | midpoint |
| NbN Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula. | 5.47 | Pressure not reported | midpoint |
| WSi Archive — visibility unverified Source-occurrence policy only; no material identity or catalogue acceptance is inferred from the formula. | 4 | Pressure not reported | unknown |
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