Photon number dependent afterpulsing in superconducting nanostrip single-photon detectors

authored by: Sebastian M. F. Raupach, Mariia Sidorova, Alexej D. Semenov
Abstract: Superconducting nanostrip single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are widespread tools in photonic quantum technologies. Here, we study the afterpulsing phenomenon in commercial SNSPDs exhibiting significant levels of afterpulses even at low counting rates. We find different contributions, where the probability of an afterpulse is not a constant but depends on the mean number of photons per light pulse including mean numbers much less than 1. Our observations exclude the electrical circuit as the primary cause of the main contribution to the observed afterpulsing probability, which exhibits a strong dependence on mean photon number. We propose a phenomenological model that qualitatively explains our findings via the introduction of slowly relaxing "afterpulsing centers,"storing the absorbed photons' energy for several tens of nanoseconds. We conjecture that two-level systems in amorphous materials are physical candidates for the role of such afterpulsing centers.
External Organisation(s): National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB)
German Aerospace Center (DLR)
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Type: Article
Journal: Physical Review B
Volume: 108
ISSN: 2469-9969
Publication date: 01.08.2023
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.108.054507 (Access: Closed)

BibTeX

@article{0772bdfc73bd4891b55da903216633e0,
title = "Photon number dependent afterpulsing in superconducting nanostrip single-photon detectors",
abstract = "Superconducting nanostrip single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are widespread tools in photonic quantum technologies. Here, we study the afterpulsing phenomenon in commercial SNSPDs exhibiting significant levels of afterpulses even at low counting rates. We find different contributions, where the probability of an afterpulse is not a constant but depends on the mean number of photons per light pulse including mean numbers much less than 1. Our observations exclude the electrical circuit as the primary cause of the main contribution to the observed afterpulsing probability, which exhibits a strong dependence on mean photon number. We propose a phenomenological model that qualitatively explains our findings via the introduction of slowly relaxing {"}afterpulsing centers,{"}storing the absorbed photons' energy for several tens of nanoseconds. We conjecture that two-level systems in amorphous materials are physical candidates for the role of such afterpulsing centers.",
author = "Raupach, {Sebastian M. F.} and Mariia Sidorova and Semenov, {Alexej D.}",
note = "Funding Information: The work reported here was funded by the project EMPIR 19NRM06 METISQ, with additional support from the Quantum Valley Lower Saxony (QVLS) and the cluster of excellence QuantumFrontiers. The METISQ project received funding from the EMPIR program cofinanced by the Participating States and from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program. We thank Alexey Bezryadin for stimulating discussions, Helmuth Hofer for calibration of the reference detector, Stefan Pendsa and Henry Ganz as well as A. Fern{\'a}ndez Scarioni for valuable technical support, and Tim Rambo and Aaron Miller for bringing Ref. to our attention.",
year = "2023",
month = aug,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1103/physrevb.108.054507",
language = "English",
volume = "108",
journal = "Physical Review B",
issn = "2469-9969",
publisher = "American Institute of Physics",
number = "5",
}