Dynamic range and fidelity: conquering the challenge in photon detection innovation.

The challenge of achieving both dynamic range and fidelity in single-photon detection technology is being addressed by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology (SIMIT). They have improved the performance of superconducting nanostrip single-photon detectors (SNSPDs), which are currently considered to be the state-of-the-art technology in single-photon detection. The researchers were able to increase the ability of SNSPDs to accurately resolve photon numbers up to 10, without the need for cryogenic amplifiers. They also developed a dual-channel timing configuration that allows for real-time photon-number readout, simplifying the readout setup and reducing the number of data-gathering steps. The results of this research could have significant implications for the field of quantum information technology and could make single-photon detection technology more widely available for a range of applications.