Towards integrated superconducting detectors on lithium niobate waveguides

Published

August 29, 2017

Author(s)

Jan P. Hoepker, Moritz Bartnick, Evan Meyer-Scott, Frederik Thiele, Stephan Krapick, Nicola Montaut, Matteo Santandrea, Harald Herrmann, Sebastian Lengeling, Raimund Ricken, Victor Quiring, Torsten Meier, Adriana Lita, Varun Verma, Thomas Gerrits, Sae Woo Nam, Christine Silberhorn, Tim J. Bartley

Abstract

Superconducting detectors are now well-established tools for low-light optics, and in particular quantum optics, boasting high-efficiency, fast response and low noise. Similarly, lithium niobate is an important platform for integrated optics given its high second-order nonlinearity, used for high-speed electro-optic modulation and polarization conversion, as well as frequency conversion and sources of quantum light. Combining these technologies addresses the requirements for a single platform capable of generating, manipulating and measuring quantum light in many degrees of freedom, in a compact and potentially scalable manner. We will report on progress integrating tungsten transition-edge sensors (TESs) and amorphous tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) on titanium in-di‚used lithium niobate waveguides. The travelling-wave design couples the evanescent fi€eld from the waveguides into the superconducting absorber. We will report on simulations and measurements of the absorption, which we can characterize at room temperature prior to cooling down the devices. Independently, we show how the detectors respond to food illumination, normally incident on the devices, demonstrating their functionality.

Citation

Proceedings of SPIE

Volume

10358

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

Integrated quantum optics, superconducting detectors, crystalline waveguides

Citation

Hoepker, J. , Bartnick, M. , Meyer-Scott, E. , Thiele, F. , Krapick, S. , Montaut, N. , Santandrea, M. , Herrmann, H. , Lengeling, S. , Ricken, R. , Quiring, V. , Meier, T. , Lita, A. , Verma, V. , Gerrits, T. , Nam, S. , Silberhorn, C. and Bartley, T. (2017), Towards integrated superconducting detectors on lithium niobate waveguides, Proceedings of SPIE (Accessed October 11, 2025)