Surpassing 99% detection efficiency by cascading two superconducting nanowires on one waveguide with self-calibration

Zhen-Guo Li; Jun Mao; Yi-Jin Zhou; Jia-Wei Guo; Shi Chen; Hao Hao; Yang-Hui Huang; Sai-Ying Ru; Nai-Tao Liu; Zhen Liu; Jie Deng; Fan Yang; Xue-Cou Tu; La-Bao Zhang; Xiao-Qing Jia; Jian Chen; Lin Kang; Jianwei Wang; Qing-Yuan Zhao; Qihuang Gong; Pei-Heng Wu

doi:10.1038/s41377-025-02031-5

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Surpassing 99% detection efficiency by cascading two superconducting nanowires on one waveguide with self-calibration

Original Articles

- Surpassing 99% detection efficiency by cascading two superconducting nanowires on one waveguide with self-calibration
- Light: Science & Applications Vol. 14, Issue 12, Pages: 3969-3978(2025)
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Research Institute of Superconductor Electronics (RISE), School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
  2.Purple Mountain Laboratory, Nanjing 211111, China
  3.State Key Laboratory for Mesoscopic Physics, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
  4.Hefei National Laboratory, Hefei 230088, China
  5.Frontiers Science Center for Nano-optoelectronics & Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
- Author bio：
  
  Jianwei Wang (jianwei.wang@pku.edu.cn)
  Qing-Yuan Zhao (qyzhao@nju.edu.cn)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-025-02031-5
  CLC：
- Received：27 April 2025，
  
  Revised：2025-08-27，
  
  Accepted：01 September 2025，
  
  Published Online：17 October 2025，
  
  Published：31 December 2025
- Accepted：
Scan QR Code
Li, ZG. et al. Surpassing 99% detection efficiency by cascading two superconducting nanowires on one waveguide with self-calibration. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3969-3978 (2025).
DOI：

Li, ZG. et al. Surpassing 99% detection efficiency by cascading two superconducting nanowires on one waveguide with self-calibration. Light: Science & Applications, 14, 3969-3978 (2025). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-025-02031-5.

摘要

Abstract

Integrated quantum photonics (IQP) allows for on-chip generation

manipulation and detection of quantum states of light

fostering advancements in quantum communication

quantum computing

and quantum information technologies. Single-photon detector is a key device in IQP that allows for efficient readout of quantum information through the detection of single-photon statistics and measurement of photonic quantum states. The efficacy of quantum information retrieval hinges on the ability to simultaneously detect every single photon with high efficiency

a relationship that grows exponentially with the number of photons (

). Even a slight decrease in single photon detection efficiency can lead to a significant reduction in probability as

grows larger. Here

we introduce a superconductor-semiconductor heterogeneous integration technology that allows for the integration of transversal superconducting nanowires single-photon detectors that eliminate corner loss on various optical waveguides with exceptional efficiency and versatility. Two cascaded nanowires have been integrated on one silicon waveguide

which not only boosts the detection efficiency to 99.73% at a wavelength of 1550nm but also provides an on-chip calibration setup

allowing such high efficiency to be measured despite the large loss from fiber-to-waveguide coupling and uncertainties from absolute power calibrations. These advancements represent a substantial improvement compared to previous records

approaching the theoretical limit achievable on silicon waveguide

and demonstrate the versatility of heterogeneous integration technology. This breakthrough in ultra-high detection efficiency establishes a new baseline for assessing quantum measurement capabilities on scalable IQP platforms.

关键词

Keywords

references

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