Quantum efficiency and noise equivalent power of nanostructured, NbN, single-photon detectors in the wavelength range from visible to infrared

We present our studies on the quantum efficiency (QE) and the noise equivalent, power (NEP) of the latest-generation, nanostructured, superconducting, single-photon detectors (SSPDs) in the wavelength range from 0.5 to 5.6 mu m, operated at temperatures in the 2.0- to 4.2-K range. Our detectors are designed as 4-nm-thick and 100-nm-wide NbN meander-shaped stripes, patterned by electron-beam lithography and cover a 10 X 10 - mu m(2) active area. The best-achieved QE at 2.0 K for 1.55-mu m photons is 17%, and QE for 1.3-mu m. infrared photons reaches its saturation value of similar to 30%. The SSPD NEP at 2.0 K is as low as 5 x 10(-21) W/Hz(-1/2). Our nanostructured SSPDs, operated at 2.0 K, significantly outperform their semiconducting counterparts, and, together with their GHz counting rate and picosecond tinting jitter, they are devices-of-choice for practical quantum key distribution systems and free-space (even interplanetary) quantum optical communications.