Design of efficient superconducting nanowire single photon detectors with high polarization sensitivity for polarimetric imaging

Sensor arrays for fast-speed polarimetric imaging rely on the developments of the polarization sensitive photo-detectors, of which the absorption efficiency and polarization extinction ratio (PER) are the two major design concerns. This paper presents the numerical results of the design of an efficient superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) with high polarization sensitivity by taking advantage of the polarization dependent interferometric effect of a composite mirror. Numerical simulations show that for a SNSPD designed at 1550 nm, the absorption efficiency for parallel polarization is 95% and the PER is 1.5 x 10(4). The simulated high PER is in agreement with the value estimated from an analytical model. In order to demonstrate the practicability of the device design, it is also shown that the proposed SNSPD has a good tolerance on fabrication uncertainties. The proposed design of the polarization sensitive SNSPD has a feature that it allows the absorption efficiency and PER to be simultaneously optimized. (C) 2016 Optical Society of America