Epitaxial niobium nitride superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors

Superconducting nanowires used in single-photon detectors have been realized on amorphous or poly-crystalline films. Here, we report the use of single-crystalline NbN thin films for superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). Grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at high temperature o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inarXiv.org
Main Authors Cheng, Risheng, Wright, John, Xing, Huili G, Jena, Debdeep, Tang, Hong X
Format Paper Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 17.06.2020
Subjects
Crystal structure
Crystallinity
Detectors
Epitaxial growth
High temperature
Homogeneity
Lattice matching
Molecular beam epitaxy
Nanowires
Niobium nitride
Photons
Physics - Applied Physics
Physics - Optics
Sapphire
Sensors
Single crystals
Substrates
Superconductivity
Thick films
Thin films
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Summary:Superconducting nanowires used in single-photon detectors have been realized on amorphous or poly-crystalline films. Here, we report the use of single-crystalline NbN thin films for superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). Grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at high temperature on nearly lattice-matched AlN-on-sapphire substrates, the NbN films exhibit high degree of uniformity and homogeneity. Even with relatively thick films, the fabricated nanowire detectors show saturated internal efficiency at near-IR wavelengths, demonstrating the potential of MBE-grown NbN for realizing large arrays of on-chip SNSPDs and their integration with AlN-based \(\chi^{(2)}\) quantum photonic circuits.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2006.09643