Design of an Antireflection Coating for High-efficiency Superconducting Nanowire Single-photon Detectors

Abstract

We present a simulation method to design antireflection coating (ARCs) for fiber-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors. Using a finite-element method, the absorptance of the nanowire is calculated for a defined unit-cell structure consisting of a fiber, ARC layer, nanowire absorber, distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirror, and air gap. We develop a method to evaluate the uncertainty in absorptance due to the uncontrollable parameter of air-gap distance. The validity of the simulation method is tested by comparison to an experimental realization for a case of single-layer ARC, which results in good agreement. We show finally a double-layer ARC design optimized for a system detection efficiency of higher than 95%, with a reduced uncertainty due to the air-gap distance.