Nov 4 2014
Dr Döndü Sahin, a Marie Curie Experienced Researcher from the Centre for Quantum Photonics, was invited to present a paper based on her PhD work for the Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics.
The simulated electric field distribution of the fundamental TE mode for NbN nanowire on top of (left) a GaAs (300nm)/AlGaAs ridge waveguide and (right) a GaAs nanobeam. In both figures, GaAs is shown insure a white contour, NbN nanowires are colored in red and SiOx in grey.
The paper entitled "Waveguide Nanowire Superconducting Single-Photon Detectors Fabricated on GaAs and the Study of Their Optical Properties" contained a review on her published PhD work, and also part of an optical and electrical analysis of superconducting NbN thin films that was previously unpublished.
Quantum photonic integration is one of the leading approaches for enabling the implementation of quantum simulation and computing at the scale of tens to hundreds of photons. Quantum photonic integrated circuits require the monolithic integration of single photon sources and passive circuit elements, such as waveguides and couplers, with single-photonic detectors. A promising approach for on-chip single photon detection is the use of superconducting nanowires on top of semiconductor waveguides. In her paper, Dr Döndü Sahin proposes a new design of NbN films on GaAs for the realisation of waveguide superconducting single photon detectors, which allows high absorbance for short nanowires. This will increase the integration density in a quantum photonic chip. Finally, she reviewed recent results on integrated single-photon and photon-number-resolving detectors and integrated auto-correlators.
Dr Döndü Sahin has been a member of Centre for Quantum Photonics since March this year, having recently completed her PhD at University of Technology, Eindhoven. Her research interests include the development of the superconducting thin films using co-sputtering technique, characterisation of the thin-film properties and the study of super-conducting nanowire detectors.