Reaching the Intrinsic Performance Limits of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors Up to 0.1 mm Wide

Authors

• Kristen M. Parzuchowski, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Eli Mueller, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Bakhrom G. Oripov, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Benedikt Hampel, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Ravin A. Chowdhury, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Sahil R. Patel, California Institute of Technology
• Daniel Kuznesof, University of Glasgow
• Emma K. Batson, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Ryan Morgenstern, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Robert H. Hadfield, University of Glasgow
• Varun B. Verma, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Matthew D. Shaw, California Institute of Technology
• Jason P. Allmaras, California Institute of Technology
• Martina J. Stevens, Physical Measurement Laboratory, National Institute of Standards and Technology
• Alex Gurevich, Old Dominion UniversityFollow
• Adam N. McCaughan, University of Colorado, Boulder

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1364/OPTICA.599984

Publication Title

Optica

Volume

13

Issue

8

Pages

1649-1657

Abstract

Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors combine high detection efficiency, low noise, and excellent timing resolution, making them a leading platform for photon-counting applications. However, despite decades of materials and fabrication research, detector performance has never been shown to match theoretical performance expectations. Here, we demonstrate in situ tuning of a detector from its typical, suboptimal operation, to a regime limited only by material quality, allowing the device to reach its intrinsic performance limit. Our approach is based on current-biased superconducting “rails” placed on either side of the detector that redistribute current across its width to achieve peak performance. This technique reduces the dark count rate by 10 orders of magnitude. Further, we show operation at this intrinsic performance limit for devices up to 0.1 mm wide and also demonstrate near-unity internal detection efficiency at a wavelength of 4 µm for a 20 µm wide detector—a factor of 20 wider than the current state of the art. This work enables future detectors to overcome the Pearl limit for device width, paving the way for arbitrarily large detectors.

Rights

© 2026 The Authors.

Published by Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License.

Data Availability

Article states: "Data underlying the results presented in this paper are not publicly available at this time but may be obtained from the authors upon reasonable request."

Original Publication Citation

Parzuchowski, K. M., Mueller, E., Oripov, B. G., Hampel, B., Chowdhury, R. A., Patel, S. R., Kuznesof, D., Batson, E. K., Morgenstern, R., Hadfield, R. H., Verma, V. B., Shaw, M. D., Allmaras, J. P., Stevens, M. J., Gurevich, A., & McCaughan, A. N. (2026). Reaching the intrinsic performance limits of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors up to 0.1 mm wide. Optica, 13(8), 1649-1657. https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.599984

ORCID

0000-0003-0759-8941 (Gurevich)

Repository Citation

Parzuchowski, Kristen M.; Mueller, Eli; Oripov, Bakhrom G.; Hampel, Benedikt; Chowdhury, Ravin A.; Patel, Sahil R.; Kuznesof, Daniel; Batson, Emma K.; Morgenstern, Ryan; Hadfield, Robert H.; Verma, Varun B.; Shaw, Matthew D.; Allmaras, Jason P.; Stevens, Martina J.; Gurevich, Alex; and McCaughan, Adam N., "Reaching the Intrinsic Performance Limits of Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors Up to 0.1 mm Wide" (2026). Physics Faculty Publications. 1072.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/physics_fac_pubs/1072