Enhanced Detection Rate and High Photon-Number Efficiencies with a Scalable Parallel SNSPD

TL;DR

This paper introduces a scalable 28-pixel SNSPD array with a simplified readout, achieving high detection efficiency, low jitter, and photon-number resolution at unprecedented speeds, advancing quantum optical detection technology.

Contribution

The authors present a novel parallel architecture for SNSPD arrays that maintains high performance with a single readout line, simplifying system complexity and enhancing speed and efficiency.

Findings

Maximum single-photon efficiency of 88%

Maintains efficiency above 50% at 200 Mcounts/sec

Photon-number resolution up to 3 photons with high efficiency

Abstract

Since their inception, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors have been enabling quantum optical applications and the rise of the photonic quantum industry. The evolution in the detector design and read-out strategies has led to the introduction of devices with a plurality of independent pixels, which have been able to operate with high system detection efficiency at high speed while also supporting photon number resolution capabilities. However, this comes at the cost of a complex readout that requires one coaxial cable for each pixel of the array. Here, we report a 28-pixel SNSPD with a dedicated parallel architecture that, while maintaining a simple readout with a single coaxial line, enables the detector to operate at high speed with low-performance degradation. The device shows a maximum single-photon efficiency of 88% and is able to maintain its efficiency above 50%, coupled with a timing jitter lower than 80 ps, up to a detection rate of 200 million counts per second. The detector also provides state-of-the-art photon-number-resolving performances with a 2-photon efficiency of 75% and a 3-photon efficiency of 62%.