Improvements of readout signal integrity in mid-infrared superconducting nanowire single photon detectors

Abstract

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) with high timing resolution and low background counts in the mid infrared (MIR) have the potential to open up numerous opportunities in fields such as exoplanet searches, direct dark matter detection, physical chemistry, and remote sensing. One challenge in pushing SNSPD sensitivity to the MIR is a decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the readout signal as the critical currents become increasingly smaller. We overcome this trade-off with a new device architecture that employs impedance matching tapers and superconducting nanowire avalanche photodetectors to demonstrate increased SNR while maintaining saturated internal detection efficiency at 7.4 μm and getting close to saturation at 10.6 μm. This work provides a novel platform for pushing SNSPD sensitivity to longer wavelengths while improving the scalability of the readout electronics.