Counting near-infrared single-photons with 95% efficiency
Open accessAbstract
Single-photon detectors operating at visible and near-infrared wavelengths with high detection efficiency and low noise are a requirement for many quantum-information applications. Superconducting transition-edge sensors (TESs) are capable of detecting visible and near-infrared light at the single-photon level and are capable of discriminating between one- and two-photon absorption events; however these capabilities place stringent design requirements on the TES heat capacity, thermometry, and optical detection efficiency. We describe the fabrication and evaluation of a fiber-coupled, photon-number-resolving TES detector optimized for absorption at 1550 and 1310 nm wavelengths. The measured system detection efficiency at 1556 nm is 95 % +/- 2 %, which to our knowledge is the highest system detection efficiency reported for a near-infrared single-photon detector.
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The PNR detectors based on superconducting transition-edge sensors have 95% detection efficiency.
“Spatial overlap is ensured by using single-mode fibre coupling at the entrance and exit of each loop delay, and samples are collected using an array of photon-number resolving (PNR) detectors based on superconducting transition-edge sensors (TES) with 95% detection efficiency39,40.”
From Quantum computational advantage with a programmable photonic processor (2022) · cites this paper as [39]
Significant progress has been made on superconducting detectors capable of resolving photon number, with ultra-low dark count rate (0.15 Hz at 1.3 μm) and high efficiency up to 95%.
“Significant progress (Rosenberg et al., 2005;Lita, Miller and Nam, 2008;Divochiy et al., 2008) has been made on superconducting detectors capable of resolving photon-number, with an ultra low dark count rate (0.15 Hz at the wavelength of 1.3 µm), and high efficiency up to 95%.”
From Multiphoton entanglement and interferometry (2012) · cites this paper as Lita, Miller and Nam, 2008
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Self-citation
- Authors
- Lita, A. E., Miller, A. J., & Nam, S. W.
- Affiliations
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (US)
- Albion College (US)
- Venue
- Optics Express
- Publisher
- Optica Publishing Group
- Published
- 2008
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 3032
- ISSN
- 1094-4087 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2066592527
- Cited by
- 734
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 42 · 2023: 41 · 2022: 52 · 2021: 37 · 2020: 48 · 2019: 51 · 2018: 47 · 2017: 56 · 2016: 37 · 2015: 36 · 2014: 45 · 2013: 48 · 2012: 43
- FWCI
- 21.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Optics Express (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Superconducting and THz Device Technology
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Advanced Semiconductor Detectors and Materials
- Keywords
- single-photon detection, transition edge sensors, photon-number-resolving detectors, detection efficiency, 1550 nm, 1310 nm, quantum information
- MeSH terms
- Equipment Design, Photometry, Radiation Dosage, Radiometry, Sensitivity and Specificity, Spectrophotometry, Infrared, Transducers, Reproducibility of Results, Photons, Equipment Failure Analysis
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