Nano-optical measurements of novel superconducting single photon detector designs

Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) are a highly promising emerging photon counting technology, offering infrared sensitivity combined with low dark count rates and sub-100 ps timing jitter [1]. These devices are under consideration for a wide variety of photon counting applications, from quantum cryptography to remote sensing. Next generation device designs based on optical cavities, ultra narrow wires, parallel wire arrays and nano-antenna enhanced devices are being evaluated to meet the demands of advanced photon counting applications.