Open Access
12 January 2021 Recent advances in superconducting nanowire single-photon detector technology for exoplanet transit spectroscopy in the mid-infrared
Emma E. Wollman, Varun B. Verma, Alexander B. Walter, Jeff Chiles, Boris Korzh, Jason P. Allmaras, Yao Zhai, Adriana E. Lita, Adam N. McCaughan, Ekkehart Schmidt, Simone Frasca, Richard P. Mirin, Sae-Woo Nam, Matthew D. Shaw
Author Affiliations +
Funded by: NASA James Webb Space Telescope, NASA | Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Goddard Space Flight Center
Abstract

The Origins Space Telescope mission concept includes an exoplanet transit spectrometer that requires detector arrays with ultrahigh pixel-to-pixel stability. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, or SNSPDs, have the potential to meet these stringent stability requirements due to their digital-like output. Traditionally used for applications at near-IR telecom wavelengths, SNSPDs have demonstrated near-unity detection efficiencies, ultralow dark-count rates, and high dynamic ranges. Until recently, however, SNSPD operation at the mid-infrared (mid-IR) wavelengths of interest for Origins had not been demonstrated, and SNSPD formats were limited to small arrays and active areas. Recent advances in SNSPD fabrication techniques have pushed SNSPD sensitivity to wavelengths beyond 7  μm and have enabled millimeter-scale active areas and kilopixel arrays. We report here on this progress and the outlook toward developing arrays of ultrastable superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors for mid-IR astronomy applications.

CC BY: © The Authors. Published by SPIE under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported License. Distribution or reproduction of this work in whole or in part requires full attribution of the original publication, including its DOI.
Emma E. Wollman, Varun B. Verma, Alexander B. Walter, Jeff Chiles, Boris Korzh, Jason P. Allmaras, Yao Zhai, Adriana E. Lita, Adam N. McCaughan, Ekkehart Schmidt, Simone Frasca, Richard P. Mirin, Sae-Woo Nam, and Matthew D. Shaw "Recent advances in superconducting nanowire single-photon detector technology for exoplanet transit spectroscopy in the mid-infrared," Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 7(1), 011004 (12 January 2021). https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JATIS.7.1.011004
Received: 9 June 2020; Accepted: 9 December 2020; Published: 12 January 2021
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Cited by 41 scholarly publications.
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KEYWORDS
Nanowires

Sensors

Superconductors

Mid-IR

Single photon detectors

Absorption

Nanotechnology

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