Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors: A perspective on evolution, state-of-the-art, future developments, and applications

Two decades after their demonstration, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have become indispensable tools for quantum photonics as well as for many other photon-starved applications. This invention has not only led to a burgeoning academic field with a wide range of applicatio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied physics letters Vol. 118; no. 19
Main Authors Esmaeil Zadeh, Iman, Chang, J., Los, Johannes W. N., Gyger, Samuel, Elshaari, Ali W., Steinhauer, Stephan, Dorenbos, Sander N., Zwiller, Val
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Melville American Institute of Physics 10.05.2021
Subjects
Applied physics
Detectors
Integrated circuits
Nanowires
Photonics
Photons
Superconductivity
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Summary:Two decades after their demonstration, superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have become indispensable tools for quantum photonics as well as for many other photon-starved applications. This invention has not only led to a burgeoning academic field with a wide range of applications but also triggered industrial efforts. Current state-of-the-art SNSPDs combine near-unity detection efficiency over a wide spectral range, low dark counts, short dead times, and picosecond time resolution. The present perspective discusses important milestones and progress of SNSPDs research, emerging applications, and future challenges and gives an outlook on technological developments required to bring SNSPDs to the next level: a photon-counting, fast time-tagging imaging, and multi-pixel technology that is also compatible with quantum photonic integrated circuits.
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ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/5.0045990