Current Optics and Photonics

Optical Society of Korea (한국광학회)
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Design of an Antireflection Coating for High-efficiency Superconducting Nanowire Single-photon Detectors

  • Choi, Jiman (Quantum Technology Institute, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science) ;
  • Choi, Gahyun (Quantum Technology Institute, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science) ;
  • Lee, Sun Kyung (Quantum Technology Institute, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science) ;
  • Park, Kibog (Department of Physics, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Song, Woon (Quantum Technology Institute, Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science) ;
  • Lee, Dong-Hoon (Department of Science of Measurement, University of Science and Technology) ;
  • Chong, Yonuk (Department of Nano Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University)
  • Received : 2021.05.07
  • Accepted : 2021.06.07
  • Published : 2021.08.25
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Abstract

We present a simulation method to design antireflection coating (ARCs) for fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. Using a finite-element method, the absorptance of the nanowire is calculated for a defined unit-cell structure consisting of a fiber, ARC layer, nanowire absorber, distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirror, and air gap. We develop a method to evaluate the uncertainty in absorptance due to the uncontrollable parameter of air-gap distance. The validity of the simulation method is tested by comparison to an experimental realization for a case of single-layer ARC, which results in good agreement. We show finally a double-layer ARC design optimized for a system detection efficiency of higher than 95%, with a reduced uncertainty due to the air-gap distance.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

This work is supported by the R&D Convergence Program of the National Research Council of Science and Technology (NST) (CAP-15-08-KRISS), the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS) (GP2021-0010-03), and the Engineering Research Center (ERC) supported through the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT in Korea (2019R1A5A1027055). We thank Dong-hyung Kim and Yongjai Cho for their help in characterizing the optical thin-film properties.

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