Nano-optical observation of cascade switching in a parallel superconducting nanowire single photon detector

Robert M. Heath*, Michael G. Tanner, Alessandro Casaburi, Mark G. Webster, Lara San Emeterio Alvarez, Weitao Jiang, Zoe H. Barber, Richard J. Warburton, Robert H. Hadfield

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)
129 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

The device physics of parallel-wire superconducting nanowire single photon detectors is based on a cascade process. Using nano-optical techniques and a parallel wire device with spatially separate pixels, we explicitly demonstrate the single- and multi-photon triggering regimes. We develop a model for describing efficiency of a detector operating in the arm-trigger regime. We investigate the timing response of the detector when illuminating a single pixel and two pixels. We see a change in the active area of the detector between the two regimes and find the two-pixel trigger regime to have a faster timing response than the one-pixel regime. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Original languageEnglish
Article number063503
Number of pages5
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume104
Issue number6
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Feb 2014

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