We present superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) based on few-layer NbSe2 fully encapsulated with hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), demonstrating single-photon sensitivity. Our fabrication process preserves the superconducting properties of NbSe2 in nanowires, as confirmed by low-temperature transport measurements that show a critical temperature of Tc≈6.5 K, comparable to the reported values for unpatterned sheets, and it maintains a contact resistance of ∼50Ω at T=4 K. Meandered NbSe2 nanowires exhibit a responsivity of up to 4.9×104 V/W over a spectral range of 650-1550 nm in a closed-cycle cryostat at 4 K, outperforming planar and short-wire devices. The devices achieve a 1/e recovery time of τ=(135±36) ns, system timing jitter of jsys=(1103±7) ps, and detection efficiency of ∼0.01% at 0.95Ic, with a linear increase in detection probability confirming the single-photon operation. Furthermore, measurements under attenuated pulsed laser (1 MHz) indicate a success rate of up to 33% in detecting individual optical pulses, establishing the platform as a promising candidate for developing efficient single-photon detectors.
@article{arxiv.2503.22670,
title = {Toward single-photon detection with superconducting niobium diselenide nanowires},
author = {Pietro Metuh and Athanasios Paralikis and Paweł Wyborski and Sherwan Jamo and Alessandro Palermo and Lucio Zugliani and Matteo Barbone and Kai Müller and Niels Gregersen and Saulius Vaitiekėnas and Jonathan Finley and Battulga Munkhbat},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.22670},
year = {2025}
}