Dual-Trigger of Series Nanowire Detector for Event-Based Photon Number Assignment
Abstract
Photon-number-resolving (PNR) detectors are essential components of photonic quantum technologies. However, conventional single-channel edge-triggered readout struggles to resolve the photon number n in real time or to characterize how timing jitter depends on n. In this work, we use a dual-trigger method on a three-pixel series-connected superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) that triggers on both the rising and falling edges of the detection pulse. By doing so, we preserve the precise arrival time of the detection event while mapping the photon number onto the time interval between the rising and falling edges, allowing clear separation of the events. Using this technique, we assign each detection event to n = 1, 2, or 3 photons with 99 % posterior confidence across all three classes. The timing jitter decreases as n increases, reaching values below 41 ps for n ≥ 2. Comparing edge-triggering with constant-fraction discrimination (CFD) for arrival-time extraction, we find that CFD yields lower jitter for single-photon events and a nearly constant mean arrival time. Altogether, our results establish dual-triggering as a robust, low-latency readout scheme for PNR detectors, while revealing a photon-number dependence of the timing jitter relevant to timing precision achievable in heralded photonic quantum applications.
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BibTeX
@misc{grotowski2026dualtrigger,
title = {{Dual-Trigger of Series Nanowire Detector for Event-Based Photon Number Assignment}},
author = {Stefanie Grotowski and Daniel Landes and Fabian Wietschorke and Paul Pucknus and Rasmus Flaschmann and Torsten Langer and Torsten Krause and Kai Müller and Jonathan J. Finley},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.08811},
eprint = {2609.08811},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.08811},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Dual-Trigger of Series Nanowire Detector for Event-Based Photon Number Assignment
AU - Stefanie Grotowski
AU - Daniel Landes
AU - Fabian Wietschorke
AU - Paul Pucknus
AU - Rasmus Flaschmann
AU - Torsten Langer
AU - Torsten Krause
AU - Kai Müller
AU - Jonathan J. Finley
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/08
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.08811
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.08811
AB - Photon-number-resolving (PNR) detectors are essential components of photonic quantum technologies. However, conventional single-channel edge-triggered readout struggles to resolve the photon number n in real time or to characterize how timing jitter depends on n. In this work, we use a dual-trigger method on a three-pixel series-connected superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD) that triggers on both the rising and falling edges of the detection pulse. By doing so, we preserve the precise arrival time of the detection event while mapping the photon number onto the time interval between the rising and falling edges, allowing clear separation of the events. Using this technique, we assign each detection event to n = 1, 2, or 3 photons with 99 % posterior confidence across all three classes. The timing jitter decreases as n increases, reaching values below 41 ps for n ≥ 2. Comparing edge-triggering with constant-fraction discrimination (CFD) for arrival-time extraction, we find that CFD yields lower jitter for single-photon events and a nearly constant mean arrival time. Altogether, our results establish dual-triggering as a robust, low-latency readout scheme for PNR detectors, while revealing a photon-number dependence of the timing jitter relevant to timing precision achievable in heralded photonic quantum applications.
ER -