Research Authorship:
Bladimiro E. Valbuena and Daniel F. Santavicca
Faculty Mentor:
Dr. Daniel F. Santavicca | College of Arts and Sciences | Department of Physics
Abstract:
Simulations are run to optimize the ability to resolve the number of photons detected from the pulse height by a Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector (SNSPD). This is set up in a manner that features an impedance-matching transmission line taper that provides a characteristic impedance which transitions from kΩ to 50 Ω, with the taper providing an effective load impedance that outputs pulses with not only larger amplitudes but also showed a distinct separation for multi-photon events. The first part of this project tries to computationally match the experimental results obtained by our collaborators at MIT. Once these results are achieved, we try to modify the device geometry to improve the key detector metrics which include timing jitter, dark count rate, reset time, and overall detection efficiency.
