Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors fabricated from an amorphous Mo0.75Ge0.25 thin film

Abstract

We present the characteristics of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) fabricated from amorphous Mo0.75Ge0.25 thin-films. Fabricated devices show a saturation of the internal detection efficiency at temperatures below 1 K, with system dark count rates below 500 cps. Operation in a closed-cycle cryocooler at 2.5 K is possible with system detection efficiencies exceeding 20% for SNSPDs which have not been optimized for high detection efficiency. Jitter is observed to vary between 69 ps at 250 mK and 187 ps at 2.5 K using room temperature amplifiers. © 2014 U.S. Government.