Freiburg 2024 – scientific programme

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Q: Fachverband Quantenoptik und Photonik

Q 64: Solid State Quantum Optics II

Q 64.3: Talk

Friday, March 15, 2024, 11:30–11:45, HS 3219

Maximizing photon-number resolution from an SNSPD — •Niklas Lamberty, Timon Schapeler, Thomas Hummel, Fabian Schlue, Michael Stefszky, Benjamin Brecht, Christine Silberhorn, and Tim J. Bartley — Institute for Photonic Quantum Systems, Department of Physics, Paderborn University, Warburger Str. 100, 33098 Paderborn, Germany

Recent work has shown intrinsic Photon-Number Resolution (PNR) of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) based on the evaluation of various properties of the electrical output signal. In order to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the features responsible for PNR in SNSPDs, we record a data set of electrical output signals under coherent state illumination and analyze the data using Principal Component Analysis (PCA).

PCA generates a set of basis functions, where the coefficients obtained from projection of the data set onto these basis functions have maximized variance. The basis functions thus indicate areas which are most relevant for PNR and the coefficients indicate which photon-number was measured on the detector.

Using this technique we demonstrate PNR up to four photons and show which features contribute most to the PNR. These results are then verified using a time to digital converter. This intrinsic PNR without the need for multiplexing schemes will simplify many quantum optical experiments like single photon heralding or gaussian boson sampling.

Keywords: SNSPD; principal component analysis; photon-number resolution; single-photon detector