Superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) have advanced various frontier scientific and technological fields such as quantum key distribution and deep space communications. However, limited by available cooling technology, all past experimental demonstrations have had ground-based applications. In this work we demonstrate a SNSPD system using a hybrid cryocooler compatible with space applications. With a minimum operational temperature of 2.8 K, this SNSPD system presents a maximum system detection efficiency of over 50% and a timing jitter of 48 ps, which paves the way for various space applications.
@article{arxiv.1711.10329,
title = {Superconducting nanowire single photon detection system for space applications},
author = {Lixing You and Jia Quan and yong Wang and Yuexue Ma and Xiaoyan Yang and Yanjie Liu and Hao Li and Jianguo Li and Juan Wang and Jingtao Liang and Zhen Wang and Xiaoming Xie},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1711.10329},
year = {2018}
}