This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Our everyday life is flooded with photons, the quantum building blocks of light. For cutting-edge technology, from quantum computing to deep-tissue imaging, detecting every single photon counts.
"Photons carry information," said Kristen Parzuchowski, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. "Whenever a photon comes into your measurement system, you need to be able to detect it." Photons can transmit data in quantum networks or across deep-space communication links. Catching and analyzing photons lets scientists build biomedical images and search the universe for dark matter.
Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are the best way to capture photons for all these applications. As their name implies, they use the phenomenon of superconductivity, in which electricity flows without resistance, to detect individual photons. Single particles of light create tiny splashes in the electric current, which disrupt the superconductivity and trigger a measurable electrical signal.
NIST has drastically improved these devices over the years to the point at which they detect 98% of the photons that come in. SNSPDs still have some drawbacks, however. They typically require highly specialized nanometer-scale fabrication techniques.
Most importantly, the superconducting detector's edges limit detector performance. Detectors that can carry more current are known to perform better, but fabrication defects cap the maximum flow. NIST researchers decided to think bigger.
In a new Optica paper, NIST researchers found that they could size up the superconducting wires to one-tenth of a millimeter—more than 100 times wider than typical SNSPDs—simplifying the photon detector's design and its fabrication using a method to unlock the material's true performance potential. "Typically, everyone has worked to make smaller and smaller wires, which makes fabrication increasingly challenging," Parzuchowski said. SNSPDs typically use a 100-nanometer-wide wire made of superconducting material connected to a readout circuit.
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