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Single-photon detectors

Scaling up single-photon detector arrays

Nature Photonics volume 17, pages 10–11 (2023)Cite this article

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Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors offer outstanding performance, but the development of large-format imaging arrays is challenging. A new approach based on sectioning a single nanowire enables an eightfold improvement of the spatial resolution and the realization of a 1,024-pixel imager.

The most sensitive photodetectors are those that can resolve individual photons. A single-photon imager combines this exceptional sensitivity with spatial information about each detection event. Single-photon imagers have found applications across a diverse range of fields. One application is light detection and ranging (LIDAR). For example, NASA’s Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) mission uses LIDAR with multiple single-photon detection channels to map the Earth’s topography with unprecedented precision1. Other applications come from the field of quantum optics, where single-photon detector arrays can take advantage of the multi-dimensional quantum information encoded in the spatial distribution of entangled photons2. These detector arrays are also used in quantum imaging applications3 as well as classical imaging at low photon flux4. There are also emerging applications in astronomy, including using intensity interferometry to measure stellar angular diameters5 and performing exoplanet transit spectroscopy6.

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Fig. 1: Conceptual schematic of the orthogonal time–amplitude multiplexed (OTAM) superconducting nanowire single-photon imager, from Kong et al.

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  1. Department of Physics, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA

    Daniel F. Santavicca

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  1. Daniel F. Santavicca
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Correspondence to Daniel F. Santavicca.

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Santavicca, D.F. Scaling up single-photon detector arrays. Nat. Photon. 17, 10–11 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-022-01134-4

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