Cryo-compatible opto-mechanical low-voltage phase-modulator integrated with superconducting single-photon detectors
Fabian Beutel, Thomas Grottke, Martin A. Wolff, Carsten Schuck, Wolfram H. P. Pernice
Abstract
Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) have enabled novel functionality in quantum optics, quantum information processing and quantum communication. PICs based on Silicon Nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) provide low-loss passive components and are compatible with efficient superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). For realizing functional quantum photonic systems, the integration with active phase-shifters is needed which is challenging at the cryogenic temperatures needed for operating SNSPDs. Here we demonstrate a cryo-compatible phase shifter using a low-voltage opto-mechanical modulator and show joint operation with SNSPDs at 1.3 K. We achieve a half-wave voltage of 4.6 V, single-photon detection with 88% on-chip detection efficiency (OCDE) and a low timing jitter of 12.2 ps. Our approach allows for operating reconfigurable quantum photonic circuits with low dissipation in a cryogenic setting.