Waveguide photon-number-resolving detectors for quantum photonic integrated circuits

摘要

Quantum photonic integration circuits are a promising approach to scalable quantum processing with photons. Waveguide single-photon-detectors (WSPDs) based on superconducting nanowires have been recently shown to be compatible with single-photon sources for a monolithic integration. While standard WSPDs offer single-photon sensitivity, more complex superconducting nanowire structures can be configured to have photon-number-resolving capability. In this work, we present waveguide photon-number-resolving detectors (WPNRDs) on GaAs/Al_(0.75)Ga_(0.25)As ridge waveguides based on a series connection of nanowires. The detection of 0-4 photons has been demonstrated with a four-wire WPNRD, having a single electrical read-out. A device quantum efficiency of ~24% is reported at 1310nm for the transverse electric polarization.