Government of the United States of America, as Represented by the Secretary of Commerce

National Institute of Standards and Technology

Burm Baek

Sae Woo Nam

Varun Verma

Francesco Marsili

Francesco Marsilli

An apparatus includes a base layer; and a superconducting nanowire disposed on the base layer in a continuous meander pattern and including an amorphous metal-metalloid alloy such that the apparatus is configured to detect single photons, and the continuous meander pattern includes: a plurality of parallel line segments; and a plurality of curved segments, wherein adjacent parallel line segments are joined by a curved segment. A method for making an apparatus for detecting single photons includes forming a base layer; forming a superconducting layer on the base layer; patterning the superconducting layer; and forming a continuous meander pattern from the superconducting layer, the continuous meander pattern includes a plurality of parallel line segments; and a plurality of curved segments, wherein adjacent parallel line segments are joined by a curved segment; and forming a dielectric layer on the continuous meander pattern, the dielectric layer including a dielectric material that is substantially transparent to a predetermined photon wavelength, wherein the apparatus is configured to detect single photons.

Efficient polarization independent single photon detector

A superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SN-SPD) microelectronic circuit is described which has higher quantum efficiency and signal-to-noise than any SN-SPD's known in the art. The material and configuration of the microelectronic circuit eliminates the polarization dependence and shows improved signal-to-noise over SN-SPD microelectronic circuits known in the art. The higher efficiency, polarization independence, and high signal-to-noise is achieved by vertically stacking two tungsten-silicide (TS) SN-SPDs and electrically connecting them in parallel. This structure forms a multilayer superconducting nanowire avalanche photo-detector (SNAP). A single photon detection device employing the multilayer (SNAP) microelectronic circuit demonstrates a peak system detection efficiency of 87.7% and a polarization dependence of less than 2%. This represents nearly an order of magnitude improvement in both system detection efficiency and reduction of polarization dependence compared to conventional SNSPDs.

Growing community of inventors

Lafayette, CO, United States of America

Burm Baek