Research Article
Properties of Cascade Switch Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors
@INPROCEEDINGS{10.1007/978-3-642-11731-2_19, author={M. Ejrnaes and A. Casaburi and R. Cristiano and O. Quaranta and S. Marchetti and N. Martucciello and S. Pagano and A. Gaggero and F. Mattioli and R. Leoni}, title={Properties of Cascade Switch Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors}, proceedings={Quantum Communication and Quantum Networking. First International Conference, QuantumComm 2009, Naples, Italy, October 26-30, 2009, Revised Selected Papers}, proceedings_a={QUANTUMCOMM}, year={2012}, month={10}, keywords={Single photon detector detector design non-equilibrium superconductivity nanotechnology}, doi={10.1007/978-3-642-11731-2_19} }- M. Ejrnaes
A. Casaburi
R. Cristiano
O. Quaranta
S. Marchetti
N. Martucciello
S. Pagano
A. Gaggero
F. Mattioli
R. Leoni
Year: 2012
Properties of Cascade Switch Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors
QUANTUMCOMM
Springer
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-11731-2_19
Abstract
Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors have been realized using an innovative photon induced cascade switch of parallel nanowires. We demonstrate that this configuration allows, at the same time, a fast response and a large active area, with the additional advantage of signal pulses with a larger signal to noise ratio. These improvements are obtained maintaining the good quantum efficiency of traditional meandered superconducting detectors. We show that due to the high speed of the parallel nanowire detector special attention is needed to avoid latching, a phenomenon which in the parallel nanowire detector degrades the detector efficiency. We describe how the latching problem can be avoided using a proper nanowire configuration.
