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Superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) has been widely used in many fields such as quantum computing, quantum key distribution and laser radar, due to its high detection efficiency, low dark count rate, high counting rate, and low timing jitter. In most cases, the SNSPD works under the DC-bias mode that can detect single photons arrived at any time. In some cases such as satellite laser ranging and single-photon laser radar where the light pulses arrive regularly, the AC-bias mode enables the SNSPD to work with higher counting rates and lower background dark counts, which however requires complicated readout due to the low signal-to-noise ratio of the photon response. In this work, we report on an AC-biased SNSPD system with a self-differential readout circuit. The system includes a 2-pixel SNSPD consisting of two parallel nanowires, which are biased with 100 MHz sinusoidal current. The output signals of these two nanowires are amplified and combined for the differential readout of the photon response. The resulting response pulse possesses a signal-to-noise ratio ten times higher than that extracted before self-differential readout. In addition, the dark counts are reduced by a factor of 4, and the count rates are increased by a factor of 1.5, in comparison with those under the DC-bias mode. This work provides a specific method to read out the AC-biased SNSPD.
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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You L X, Chen S J, Wang Y L, Liu D K, Xie X M, Jiang M H 2013 China Patent CN 103245424A (in Chinese)
[13] 尹合钰, 成日盛, 徐正, 蔡涵, 蒋振南, 李铁夫, 刘建设, 陈炜 2013 微纳电子技术 50 683
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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Google Scholar
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图 1 (a) 2-pixel SNSPD横截面示意图, a和b分别代表nanowire-1和nanowire-2; (b) 2-pixel SNSPD结构示意图; (c) 2-pixel SNSPD SEM照片
Figure 1. (a) Cross section of 2-pixel SNSPD, where a and b represent nanowire-1 and nanowire-2; (b) schematic of 2-pixel SNSPD; (c) SEM image of 2-pixel SNSPD.
图 2 (a) 2.2 K温度下, nanowire-1与nanowire-2的I-V曲线; (b)光子强度为1 MHz情况下, 直流偏置下nanowire-1 与 nanowire-2的效率曲线
Figure 2. (a) I-V curves of nanowire-1 and nanowire-2 at 2.2 K; (b) system detection efficiency (SDE) curves of nanowire-1 and nanowire-2 in DC-Bias mode under photon intensity of 1 MHz.
图 3 光电同步自差分测试系统
Figure 3. Self-differential testing system with synchronized laser and bias current pulses.
图 4 (a) 自差分降噪前的响应波形; (b) 与(a)信号相差分的噪声波形; (c) 两信号合路、噪声相互抵消后的响应信号
Figure 4. (a) Waveform of output signal before self-differential noise reduction; (b) waveform of the reference signal; (c) waveform of output signal after self-differential noise reduction.
图 5 100 MHz正弦电流偏置下, 不同输入光子强度时光子计数随光脉冲与偏置电流之间的相位差变化的情况
Figure 5. Variation of the photon counts with the change of phase difference under different photon intensity and 100 MHz sinusoidal bias current.
图 6 (a) 直流偏置以及100 MHz正弦偏置下, 不同入射光强下的系统探测效率随归一化偏置电流变化曲线, 图例为偏置方式-入射光子强度; (b) 直流偏置和100 MHz正弦偏置下的暗计数曲线
Figure 6. (a) SDE curves as a function of normalized bias function in AC-bias mode and DC-bias mode under different photon intensity. In the legend is bias mode-photon intensity; (b) dark count rate (DCR) curves in AC-Bias mode and DC-Bias mode.
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[1] Chang J, Los J, Tenorio-Pearl J O, Noordzij N, Zadeh I E 2021 APL Photonics 6 036114
Google Scholar
[2] Zhang C, Zhang W, You L, Huang J, Li H, Sun X, Wang H, Lv C, Zhou H, Liu X 2019 IEEE Photon. J. 11 7103008
Google Scholar
[3] Zadeh I E, Los J W, Gourgues R, Bulgarini G, Dobrovolskiy S M, Zwiller V, Dorenbos S N 2018 arXiv: 1801.06574 [physics. ins-det]
[4] Zadeh I E, Los J W, Gourgues R, Jin C, Dorenbos S N 2020 ACS Photonics 7 1780
Google Scholar
[5] Korzh B, Zhao Q Y, Allmaras J P, Frasca S, Autry T M, Bersin E A, Beyer A D, Briggs R M, Bumble B, Colangelo M 2020 Nat. Photonics 14 250
Google Scholar
[6] Chen J P, Zhang C, Liu Y, Jiang C, Zhang W J, Han Z Y, Ma S Z, Hu X L, Li Y H, Liu H 2021 Nat. Photonics 15 570
Google Scholar
[7] Hadfield R H, Habif J L, Schlafer J, Schwall R E, Nam S W 2006 Appl. Phys. Lett. 89 241129
Google Scholar
[8] Zhou H, He Y, You L, Chen S, Zhang W, Wu J, Wang Z, Xie X 2015 Opt. Express 23 14603
Google Scholar
[9] Gerrits T, Allman S, Lum D J, Verma V, Howell J, Mirin R, Nam S W 2015 CLEO: Science and Innovations San Jose, California, United States, May 10–15, 2015 pSTh3O.6
[10] Li H, Chen S, You L, Meng W, Wu Z, Zhang Z, Tang K, Zhang L, Zhang W, Yang X, Liu X, Wang Z, Xie X 2016 Opt. Express 24 3535
Google Scholar
[11] Xue L, Li Z, Zhang L, Zhai D, Li Y, Zhang S, Li M, Kang L, Chen J, Wu P, Xiong Y 2016 Opt. Lett. 41 3848
Google Scholar
[12] 尤立星, 陈思井, 王永良, 刘登宽, 谢晓明, 江绵恒 2013 中国专利 CN 103245424A
You L X, Chen S J, Wang Y L, Liu D K, Xie X M, Jiang M H 2013 China Patent CN 103245424A (in Chinese)
[13] 尹合钰, 成日盛, 徐正, 蔡涵, 蒋振南, 李铁夫, 刘建设, 陈炜 2013 微纳电子技术 50 683
Google Scholar
Yin H Y, Cheng R S, Xu Z, Cai H, Jiang Z N, Li T F, Liu J S, Chen W 2013 Micronanoelectron. Technol. 50 683
Google Scholar
[14] 赵清源 2014 博士学位论文 (南京: 南京大学)
Zhao Q Y 2014 Ph. D. Dissertation (Nanjing: Nanjing University) (in Chinese)
[15] Zhang L B, Zhang S, Tao X, Zhu G H, Kang L, Chen J, Wu P H 2017 IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercon. 27 2201206
Google Scholar
[16] Liu F, Jiang M S, Lu Y F, Wang Y, Bao W S 2021 Chin. Phys. B 30 040302
Google Scholar
[17] Ravindran P, Cheng R, Tang H, Bardin J C 2020 Opt. Express 28 4099
Google Scholar
[18] Knehr E, Kuzmin A, Doerner S, Wuensch S, Ilin K, Schmidt H, Siegel M 2020 Appl. Phys. Lett. 117 132602
Google Scholar
[19] Doerner S, Kuzmin A, Wuensch S, Charaev I, Siegel M 2016 IEEE T. Appl. Supercon. 27 2200205
Google Scholar
[20] Doerner S, Kuzmin A, Wuensch S, Charaev I, Boes F, Zwick T, Siegel M 2017 Appl. Phys. Lett. 111 032603
Google Scholar
[21] Doerner S, Kuzmin A, Wuensch S, Siegel M 2019 IEEE Trans. Appl. Supercon. 29 2200404
Google Scholar
[22] Dauler E A, Grein M E, Kerman A J, Marsili F, Miki S, Nam S W, Shaw M D, Terai H, Verma V B, Yamashita T 2014 Opt. Eng. 53 081907
Google Scholar
[23] Hu P, Li H, You L Y, Wang H Q, Xiao Y, Huang J, Yang X Y, Zhang W J, Wang Z, Xie X M 2020 Opt. Express 28 36884
Google Scholar
[24] You L X, Li H, Zhang W J, Yang X Y, Zhang L, Chen S J, Zhou H, Wang Z, Xie X M 2017 Supercond. Sci. Tech. 30 084008
Google Scholar
[25] Zhang W J, Yang X Y, Li H, You L X, Lv C L, Zhang L, Zhang C J, Liu X Y, Wang Z, Xie X M 2018 Supercond. Sci. Tech. 31 035012
Google Scholar
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