Quantum detector tomography of a time-multiplexed superconducting nanowire single-photon detector at telecom wavelengths

Printer-friendly versionSend by emailPDF version
Date: 
2013-01-14
Author(s): 

C. M. Natarajan, L. Zhang, H. Coldenstrodt-Ronge, G. Donati, S. N. Dorenbos, V. Zwiller, I. A. Walmsley, and R. H. Hadfield

Reference: 

Optics Express 21, 893 (2013)

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are widely used in telecom wavelength optical quantum information science applications. Quantum detector tomography allows the positive-operator-valued measure (POVM) of a single-photon detector to be determined. We use an all-fiber telecom wavelength detector tomography test bed to measure detector characteristics with respect to photon flux and polarization, and hence determine the POVM. We study the SNSPD both as a binary detector and in an 8-bin, fiber based, Time-Multiplexed (TM) configuration at repetition rates up to 4 MHz. The corresponding POVMs provide an accurate picture of the photon number resolving capability of the TM-SNSPD.