title: Modified detector tomography technique applied to a superconducting multiphoton nanodetector.
abstract: We present an experimental method to characterize multi-photon detectors with a small overall detection efficiency. We do this by separating the nonlinear action of the multiphoton detection event from linear losses in the detector. Such a characterization is a necessary step for quantum information protocols with single and multiphoton detectors and can provide quantitative information to understand the underlying physics of a given detector. This characterization is applied to a superconducting multiphoton nanodetector, consisting of an NbN nanowire with a bowtie-shaped subwavelength constriction. Depending on the bias current, this detector has regimes with single and multiphoton sensitivity. We present the first full experimental characterization of such a detector.
authors.affiliation: Leiden University, Niels Bohrweg 2, 2333 CA Leiden, The Netherlands. renema@physics.leidenuniv.nl
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Renema
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Frucci
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Mattioli
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gaggero
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Leoni
authors.forename: M J A
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: de Dood
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fiore
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: van Exter
mesh_terms: D003217:Conductometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008027:Light; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009556:Niobium / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects; D010783:Photometry / Q000295:instrumentation*; D017785:Photons; D014054:Tomography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D014159:Transducers
chemical_list: D009556:Niobium