Laser & Optoelectronics Progress, Volume. 59, Issue 17, 1704002(2022)

Optimal Design of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector with High Light Absorptivity in Wavelength Range of 3-5 µm Based on Asymmetric Fabry-Pérot Cavity Structure

Yuchen Zhao, Hao Tian, Jianhua Dou, Yanning Yuan, and Xiaoli Xi*
Author Affiliations
  • College of Automation and Information Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an 710048, Shaanxi , China
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    Unlike the high absorptivity design at a specific wavelength, the optical absorption design of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors in a wide wavelength range of 3?5 μm necessitates an enhanced balance between the peak absorptivity and in-band flatness. Herein, first, an initial front-illuminated device model based on the asymmetric Fabry-Pérot (F-P) cavity structure is stacked using ultranarrow NbN nanowires, SiO2 cavities, and distributed Bragg gratings (DBRs). Second, the three thicknesses of the SiO2 cavities, a high refractive index layer and a low refractive index layer in the DBR are considered as the optimization variables, and the minimum light absorptivity in the wavelength range of 3?5 μm is set as the optimization objective. Finally, the initial device structure is optimized using the particle swarm optimization algorithm. Results show that compared with the design of double-wavelength coupling, the design of a single-layer NbN nanowire detector based on the asymmetric F-P cavity structure and high-contrast DBR can afford improved minimum optical absorption and in-band flatness by 40.2% and 59.2%, respectively. Based on this, a double-layer NbN nanowire layout can enable a further enhancement in the minimum optical absorptivity and increase the maximum absorptivity to more than 0.97, a value equivalent to that obtained using the double-wavelength coupling method.

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    Yuchen Zhao, Hao Tian, Jianhua Dou, Yanning Yuan, Xiaoli Xi. Optimal Design of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector with High Light Absorptivity in Wavelength Range of 3-5 µm Based on Asymmetric Fabry-Pérot Cavity Structure[J]. Laser & Optoelectronics Progress, 2022, 59(17): 1704002

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    Paper Information

    Category: Detectors

    Received: Dec. 30, 2021

    Accepted: Mar. 3, 2022

    Published Online: Jul. 22, 2022

    The Author Email: Xi Xiaoli (xixiaoli@xaut.edu.cn)

    DOI:10.3788/LOP202259.1704002

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