<jats:p>Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) show near unity efficiency, low dark count rate, and short recovery time. Combining these characteristics with temporal control of SNSPDs broadens their applications as in active de-latching for higher dynamic range counting or temporal filtering for pump-probe spectroscopy or LiDAR. To that end, we demonstrate active gating of an SNSPD with a minimum off-to-on rise time of 2.4 ns and a total gate length of 5.0 ns. We show how the rise time depends on the inductance of the detector in combination with the control electronics. The gate window is demonstrated to be fully and freely, electrically tunable up to 500 ns at a repetition rate of 1.0 MHz, as well as ungated, free-running operation. Control electronics to generate the gating are mounted on the 2.3 K stage of a closed-cycle sorption cryostat, while the detector is operated on the cold stage at 0.8 K. We show that the efficiency and timing jitter of the detector is not altered during the on-time of the gating window. We exploit gated operation to demonstrate a method to increase in the photon counting dynamic range by a factor 11.2, as well as temporal filtering of a strong pump in an emulated pump-probe experiment.</jats:p>

Dispersion is present in every optical setup and is often an undesired effect, especially in nonlinear-optical experiments where ultrashort laser pulses are needed. Typically, bulky pulse compressors consisting of gratings or prisms are used to address this issue by precompensating the dispersion of the optical components. However, these devices are only able to compensate for a part of the dispersion (second-order dispersion). Here, we present a compact pulse-shaping device that uses plasmonic metasurfaces to apply an arbitrarily designed spectral phase delay allowing for a full dispersion control. Furthermore, with specific phase encodings, this device can be used to temporally reshape the incident laser pulses into more complex pulse forms such as a double pulse. We verify the performance of our device by using an SHG-FROG measurement setup together with a retrieval algorithm to extract the dispersion that our device applies to an incident laser pulse.

Metasurfaces provide applications for a variety of flat elements and devices due to the ability to modulate light with subwavelength structures. The working principle meanwhile gives rise to the crucial problem and challenge to protect the metasurface from dust or clean the unavoidable contaminants during daily usage. Here, taking advantage of the intelligent bioinspired surfaces which exhibit self-cleaning properties, a versatile dielectric metasurface benefiting from the obtained superhydrophilic or quasi-superhydrophobic states is shown. The design is realized by embedding the metasurface inside a large area of wettability supporting structures, which is highly efficient in fabrication, and achieves both optical and wettability functionality at the same time. The superhydrophilic state enables an enhanced optical response with water, while the quasi-superhydrophobic state imparts the fragile antennas an ability to self-clean dust contamination. Furthermore, the metasurface can be easily switched and repeated between these two wettability or functional states by appropriate treatments in a repeatable way, without degrading the optical performance. The proposed design strategy will bring new opportunities to smart metasurfaces with improved optical performance, versatility, and physical stability.

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>We demonstrate the fabrication of micron-wide tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on a silicon substrate using laser lithography. We show saturated internal detection efficiencies with wire widths ranging from 0.59 <jats:italic>µ</jats:italic>m to 1.43 <jats:italic>µ</jats:italic>m under illumination at 1550 nm. We demonstrate both straight wires, as well as meandered structures. Single-photon sensitivity is shown in devices up to 4 mm in length. Laser-lithographically written devices allow for fast and easy structuring of large areas while maintaining a saturated internal efficiency for wire widths around 1 <jats:italic>µ</jats:italic>m.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>Lithium niobate is a promising platform for integrated quantum optics. In this platform, we aim to efficiently manipulate and detect quantum states by combining superconducting single photon detectors and modulators. The cryogenic operation of a superconducting single photon detector dictates the optimisation of the electro-optic modulators under the same operating conditions. To that end, we characterise a phase modulator, directional coupler, and polarisation converter at both ambient and cryogenic temperatures. The operation voltage <jats:inline-formula> <jats:tex-math><?CDATA $V_{\pi/2}$?></jats:tex-math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:msub> <mml:mi>V</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>π</mml:mi> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> </mml:msub> </mml:math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="jpphotonac6c63ieqn1.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula> of these modulators increases, due to the decrease in the electro-optic effect, by 74% for the phase modulator, 84% for the directional coupler and 35% for the polarisation converter below 8.5<jats:inline-formula> <jats:tex-math><?CDATA $\,\mathrm{K}$?></jats:tex-math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">K</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="jpphotonac6c63ieqn2.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula>. The phase modulator preserves its broadband nature and modulates light in the characterised wavelength range. The unbiased bar state of the directional coupler changed by a wavelength shift of 85<jats:inline-formula> <jats:tex-math><?CDATA $\,\mathrm{nm}$?></jats:tex-math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">n</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="jpphotonac6c63ieqn3.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula> while cooling the device down to 5<jats:inline-formula> <jats:tex-math><?CDATA $\,\mathrm{K}$?></jats:tex-math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">K</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="jpphotonac6c63ieqn4.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula>. The polarisation converter uses periodic poling to phasematch the two orthogonal polarisations. The phasematched wavelength of the utilised poling changes by 112<jats:inline-formula> <jats:tex-math><?CDATA $\,\mathrm{nm}$?></jats:tex-math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">n</mml:mi> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">m</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="jpphotonac6c63ieqn5.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula> when cooling to 5<jats:inline-formula> <jats:tex-math><?CDATA $\,\mathrm{K}$?></jats:tex-math> <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" overflow="scroll"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi mathvariant="normal">K</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> <jats:inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="jpphotonac6c63ieqn6.gif" xlink:type="simple" /> </jats:inline-formula>.</jats:p>

<jats:p> Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs) have become an integral part of quantum optics in recent years because of their high performance in single photon detection. We present a method to replace the electrical input by supplying the required bias current via the photocurrent of a photodiode situated on the cold stage of the cryostat. Light is guided to the bias photodiode through an optical fiber, which enables a lower thermal conduction and galvanic isolation between room temperature and the cold stage. We show that an off-the-shelf InGaAs–InP photodiode exhibits a responsivity of at least 0.55 A/W at 0.8 K. Using this device to bias an SNSPD, we characterize the count rate dependent on the optical power incident on the photodiode. This configuration of the SNSPD and photodiode shows an expected plateau in the single photon count rate with an optical bias power on the photodiode above 6.8 µW. Furthermore, we compare the same detector under both optical and electrical bias, and show there is no significant changes in performance. This has the advantage of avoiding an electrical input cable, which reduces the latent heat load by a factor of 100 and, in principle, allows for low loss RF current supply at the cold stage. </jats:p>

We demonstrate the integration of amorphous tungsten silicide superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors on titanium in-diffused lithium niobate waveguides. We show proof-of-principle detection of evanescently coupled photons of 1550 nm wavelength using bidirectional waveguide coupling for two orthogonal polarization directions. We investigate the internal detection efficiency as well as detector absorption using coupling-independent characterization measurements. Furthermore, we describe strategies to improve the yield and efficiency of these devices.

<jats:p>We present a time-over-threshold readout technique to count the number of activated pixels from an array of superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs). This technique places no additional heatload on the cryostat, and retains the intrinsic count rate of the time-tagger. We demonstrate proof-of-principle operation with respect to a four-pixel device. Furthermore, we show that, given some permissible error threshold, the number of pixels that can be reliably read out scales linearly with the intrinsic signal-to-noise ratio of the individual pixel response.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>The nonorthogonality of coherent states is a fundamental property which prevents them from being perfectly and deterministically discriminated. Here, we present an experimentally feasible protocol for the probabilistic orthogonalisation of a pair of coherent states, independent of their amplitude and phase. In contrast to unambiguous state discrimination, a successful operation of our protocol is heralded without measuring the states. As such, they remain suitable for further manipulation and the obtained orthogonal states serve as a discretevariable basis. Therefore, our protocol doubles as a simple continuous-to-discrete variable converter, which may find application in hybrid continuous-discrete quantum information processing protocols.</jats:p>

<jats:p>In the last few decades, there has been much progress on low loss waveguides, very efficient photon-number detectors and nonlinear processes. Engineered sum-frequency conversion is now at a stage where it allows operation on arbitrary temporal broadband modes, thus making the spectral degree of freedom accessible for information coding. Hereby the information is often encoded into the temporal modes of a single photon. Here, we analyse the prospect of using multi-photon states or squeezed states in different temporal modes based on integrated optics devices. We describe an analogy between mode-selective sum-frequency conversion and a network of spatial beam splitters. Furthermore, we analyse the limits on the achievable squeezing in waveguides with current technology and the loss limits in the conversion process.</jats:p> <jats:p>This article is part of the themed issue ‘Quantum technology for the 21st century’.</jats:p>

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Quantum mechanics establishes the ultimate limit to the scaling of the precision on any parameter, by identifying optimal probe states and measurements. While this paradigm is, at least in principle, adequate for the metrology of quantum channels involving the estimation of phase and loss parameters, we show that estimating the loss parameters associated with a quantum channel and a realistic quantum detector are fundamentally different. While Fock states are provably optimal for the former, we identify a crossover in the nature of the optimal probe state for estimating detector imperfections as a function of the loss parameter using Fisher information as a benchmark. We provide theoretical results for on-off and homodyne detectors, the most widely used detectors in quantum photonics technologies, when using Fock states and coherent states as probes.</jats:p>

We demonstrate for the first time the feasibility of free space quantum key distribution with continuous variables under real atmospheric conditions. More specifically, we transmit coherent polarization states over a 100 m free space channel on the roof of our institute's building. In our scheme, signal and local oscillator (LO) are combined in a single spatial mode, which auto-compensates atmospheric fluctuations and results in an excellent interference. Furthermore, the LO acts as a spatial and spectral filter, thus allowing unrestrained daylight operation.