CAREER: Avalanche-Free Single Photon Detectors Based on Type-II Heterojunctions and Nano-Switches

职业：基于 II 型异质结和纳米开关的无雪崩单光子探测器

• 批准号: 0547227
• 负责人: Hooman Mohseni
• 金额: $ 40万
• 依托单位: Northwestern University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0547227&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Avalanche; Free; Single; Photon

Mohseni0547227Compact solid-state single photon detectors are regarded as enabling components in a wide range of applications such as biophotonics, tomography, homeland security, non-destructive material inspection, astronomy, and quantum key distribution. Despite the astonishing progress of these fields in recent years, there has been little progress in the performance of single photon detectors, and hence the detector is quickly becoming the bottleneck in these fields. Some of the important shortcomings of the current single photon detectors are: poor quantum efficiency, high dark count rates, lack of imaging arrays, severe cooling requirement for longer wavelengths, and low bandwidth. Intellectual Merit:The goal of this CAREER program is to develop a novel avalanche-free single photon detector that can address most of the above problems. A new device modeling approach will be developed that is capable of modeling the micro and nano-components of this device seamlessly. The modeling will be used to optimize the epitaxial structure of the device, as well as the device geometry. Optimized devices will be evaluated, and the measurement results will be used to fine-tune the model over several cycles during the program. Broader Impact:Realization of a high-performance single photon detector beyond visible range has a significant impact in the quality of life, manifested by its wide medical, industrial, security, and scientific applications. Also, we will incorporate some of the results of this research in the solid-state courses and advanced courses on infrared detectors. The simulation software that will be developed provides a unique avenue for the students to design detectors with nanometer size regions and see their performance during these courses. Undergraduate and graduate students from under-represented and minority groups will be encouraged to take part in this research. We plan to take advantage of Alliances for Graduate Education and the Professorate program at Northwestern University in this regard.

Mohseni0547227紧凑型固态单光子探测器被认为是生物光子学、断层扫描、国土安全、无损材料检测、天文学和量子密钥分发等广泛应用中的支持组件。尽管近年来这些领域取得了惊人的进展，但单光子探测器的性能进展甚微，因此探测器很快成为这些领域的瓶颈。当前单光子探测器的一些重要缺点是：量子效率差、暗计数率高、缺乏成像阵列、较长波长的严格冷却要求以及低带宽。智力优点：该职业计划的目标是开发一种新型的无雪崩单光子探测器，可以解决上述大多数问题。将开发一种新的设备建模方法，能够对该设备的微米和纳米组件进行无缝建模。该建模将用于优化器件的外延结构以及器件的几何形状。将评估优化的设备，并且测量结果将用于在程序期间的几个周期内微调模型。更广泛的影响：实现可见光范围外的高性能单光子探测器对生活质量具有重大影响，其广泛的医疗、工业、安全和科学应用就证明了这一点。 此外，我们还将把这项研究的一些成果纳入固态课程和红外探测器高级课程中。将开发的模拟软件为学生提供了一个独特的途径来设计纳米尺寸区域的探测器并在这些课程中查看它们的性能。将鼓励来自代表性不足和少数群体的本科生和研究生参与这项研究。在这方面，我们计划利用研究生教育联盟和西北大学的教授计划。