Epitaxial niobium nitride superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors
Abstract
Superconducting nanowires used in single-photon detectors have been realized on amorphous or poly-crystalline films. Here, we report the first use of single-crystalline NbN thin films for superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). Grown by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) at high temperature on nearly lattice-matched AlN-on-sapphire substrates, the NbN films exhibit a high degree of uniformity and homogeneity. Even with relatively thick films, the fabricated nanowire detectors show saturated internal efficiency at near-IR wavelengths, demonstrating the potential of MBE-grown NbN for realizing large arrays of on-chip SNSPDs and their integration with AlN-based χ(2) quantum photonic circuits.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Sep 28, 2020
- Source ID
- 10.1063/5.0018818
Entities
People
- Debdeep Jena
- Hong X Tang
- Huili Grace Xing
- John Wright
- Risheng Cheng
Organizations
- Cornell University
- Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- Office of Emerging Frontiers and Multidisciplinary Activities
- Office of Naval Research Global
- Yale University