The very best in single-photon detection, with ultra-stable performance
Push the limits of your photonic experiments and applications to new heights with our Swiss-made superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs), combining incredibly high detection efficiency, timing precision, low noise and fast recovery time.
In a single ID281 system, mix and match up to 16 detectors, available in a range of specifications customizable to each user, including our Standard (single-pixel), Ultrafast (parallel-pixel) and Photon-Number-Resolving/PNR (parallel-pixel) options.
For added convenience and mobility, the full ID281 system is also available in a range of self-contained rack-mounted solutions.
Get the best out of your photonic experiments and applications with the ID281 Superconducting Nanowire Series today.
ID281 Standard SNSPD: a single-pixel SNSPD design, with a linear nanowire meander, offering the best overall performance in terms of system detection efficiency, detector noise, and timing precision.
ID281 Ultrafast SNSPD: a parallel-pixel SNSPD design, again with four or eight nanowire sub-pixels, but instead used to mitigate the photon pile-up effect. Recovery times below 10 ns can be achieved with these devices, while still benefiting from the efficiency, precision, noise performance and broadband operation of the ID281 SNSPD range.
ID281 Photon-number-resolving: a parallel-pixel SNSPD design, with each detector formed of either four or eight nanowire sub-pixels connected electrically in parallel. These devices offer the unique ability to discriminate up to eight-photon states in one measurement, while still benefiting from the efficiency, precision, noise performance and broadband operation of the ID281 SNSPD range.
Additionally, the analogue detection pulses must be turned into digital information, meaning the fastest and most precise timing instrumentation is a must-have.
IDQ delivers all this and more, making it the most complete and versatile SNSPD system around.
Every ID281 SNSPD has a high system detection efficiency (SDE) across hundreds of nanometres, at a user-selected central wavelength. The full range of ID281 SNSPDs provides sensitivity to single photons at wavelengths from below 500 nm to beyond 2 μm.
| Detector wavelengths | < 500 nm to > 2000 nm |
| Broadband detection efficiency | High SDE over > 100 nm range |
| Peak system detection efficiency (SDE) | Standard SNSPDs: ≥ 80% to ≥ 90% (and can exceed 95%) Ultrafast SNSPDs: ≥ 70% (typ. ≥ 80%) PNR SNSPDs: ≥ 70% (typ. ≥ 80%) |
For even broader wavelength ranges, custom optical cavities can be designed, and detectors can be coupled to multimode fibre, on request.
With built-in cryogenic amplifiers, the detector timing jitter is < 40 ps FWHM for all Standard SNSPDs, and can reach as low as < 25 ps. Timing jitter varies depending on detection wavelength, detector design, and detector composition. Lower jitter values can be prioritised on request.
| Timing jitter (FWHM) | < 25 ps to < 40 ps (typ. < 30 ps) |
All single-photon detectors have a finite time in which they need to recover after a detection event before returning to full detection efficiency, impacting the maximum detection rate that can be practically observed. Standard ID281 SNSPDs are already incredibly fast single-photon detectors, but our novel Ultrafast SNSPD designs give the very best speed in single-photon counting.
| Maximum detection rate (1) | Standard SNSPDs: > 30 MHz (recovery time typ. < 30 ns) Ultrafast SNSPDs: > 100 MHz (recovery time < 10 ns) |
(1) Recovery time defined as the time for the detection efficiency to recover 50% of the maximum after a detection event.
Detector dark counts—spurious detection events that occur with the optical inputs fully isolated—are always negligibly low in all ID281 SNSPDs. Being dominated by low-temperature black-body radiation, these dark counts decrease at shorter wavelengths.
| Maximum dark count rate | < 500 nm to 950 nm: < 5 Hz to < 1 Hz 950 nm to 1300 nm: < 20 Hz to < 1 Hz 1300 nm to > 1600 nm: < 100 Hz to < 1 Hz |
Two models of cryogenic system house ID281 Series SNSPDs: the ID281 SO (SOrption) system, and the ID281 CO (Continuous Operation) system. The ID281 SO system achieves the highest SNSPD performance, with longer periods between system maintenance and an overall longer system lifetime, while the ID281 CO system achieves true uninterrupted and indefinite SNSPD operation, and still reaching the performance specifications listed above.
| Cryostat Model | ID281 SO (SOrption) | ID281 CO (Continuous Operation) |
| Detector base temperature | 0.8 K | > 2 K |
| Runtime at base temperature | ≥ 24 hours (2) | Indefinitely |
| Available ID281 SNSPDs | Full SNSPD catalogue | High-speed and low-jitter SNSPDs |
| Key benefits | – Lowest possible timing jitter – Extended system lifetime |
– True 24/7 continuous operation |
| Available detector channels | Up to 16 | |
| Cryostat dimensions | 63 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm | |
(2) Automated operation of the ID281 SO system gives indefinite continuous operation with a scheduled helium condensation cycle every day.
