We present an ultrafast NbN Superconducting single-photon detector (SSPD) with active area of 3x3 μm², which reveals better timing performances than a previously developed SSPD with active area of 10x10 μm². The improved SSPD demonstrates the record timing jitter <25 ps, ultra short recovery time <2 ns, extremely low dark counts level, and high detection efficiency (DE) in a wide spectral range from visible to near-infrared. The record parameters were obtained thanks to the development of a new technique of an effective optical coupling between a detector with reduced-size active area and a standard single-mode telecommunication fiber. The advantages of a new approach are experimentally confirmed by performed electro-optical measurements of the device performances.

Date Published: 6 May 2015
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 9504, Photon Counting Applications 2015, 950408 (6 May 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2178131

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9504:
Photon Counting Applications 2015
Ivan Prochazka; Roman Sobolewski; Ralph B. James, Editor(s)