SAMOP 2023 – scientific programme
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MO: Fachverband Molekülphysik
MO 11: Quantum Technologies (joint session Q/MO/QI)
MO 11.5: Talk
Wednesday, March 8, 2023, 15:45–16:00, E214
Resolving photon numbers using ultra-high-resolution timing single-channel electronic readout of a conventional superconducting nanowire single photon detector — •Gregor Sauer1,2, Mirco Kolarczik3, Rodrigo Gomez1,2, Helmut Fedder3, and Fabian Steinlechner1,2 — 1Institute of Applied Physics, Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich Schiller University, 07743 Jena, Germany — 2Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF, 07745 Jena, Germany — 3Swabian Instruments GmbH, 70435 Stuttgart, Germany
Photon-number-resolving (PNR) detectors are indispensable building blocks for applications in quantum communications, computing, and sensing. PNR is commonly achieved by multiplexing onto several superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPD) or using transition-edge sensors with energy- and photon-number resolution. This comes at the cost of resource overhead (for multiplexing) or long recovery times (for transition-edge sensors).
Here, we show how ultra-high-resolution timing measurements of the rising and falling edge of electrical pulses generated from the SNSPDs enable to distinguish photon numbers of up to 5 in a single-shot measurement. This provides a practical and comparably low-cost PNR detector, offering high detection efficiency and operational repetition rate. We present the implementation of such a PNR detector system (in the telecom C-band) and its characterization by measuring the photon-number statistics of a 300fs-pulsed coherent input source with tunable average photon number and repetition rate.