Nanoscale Gap-Plasmon-Enhanced Superconducting Photon Detectors at Single-Photon Level
Journal
Nano Letters
Journal Volume
23
Journal Issue
24
Start Page
11387
End Page
11394
ISSN
1530-6984
1530-6992
Date Issued
2023-10-31
Author(s)
Jing-Wei Yang
Tzu-Yu Peng
Daniel D. A. Clarke
Frank Daniel Bello
Jia-Wern Chen
Hao-Chen Yeh
Wei-Ren Syong
Ortwin Hess
Yu-Jung Lu
Abstract
With a growing demand for detecting light at the single-photon level in various fields, researchers are focused on optimizing the performance of superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) by using multiple approaches. However, input light coupling for visible light has remained a challenge in the development of efficient SSPDs. To overcome these limitations, we developed a novel system that integrates NbN superconducting microwire photon detectors (SMPDs) with gap-plasmon resonators to improve the photon detection efficiency to 98% while preserving all detector performance features, such as polarization insensitivity. The plasmonic SMPDs exhibit a hot-belt effect that generates a nonlinear photoresponse in the visible range operated at 9 K (∼0.64Tc), resulting in a 233-fold increase in phonon-electron interaction factor (γ) compared to pristine SMPDs at resonance under CW illumination. These findings open up new opportunities for ultrasensitive single-photon detection in areas like quantum information processing, quantum optics, imaging, and sensing at visible wavelengths.
SDGs
Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Type
journal article