The way to high-performance single nanowire photodetectors： problems and prospects

As potential building blocks for micro-nano devices, one-di- mensional semiconductor nanowires （NWs） have been widely studied in recent decades. Due to limited dimension and large surface-to-volume ratio, devices based on NWs are more likely to exhibit unique properties. NW photodetectors adopting different materials have been fabricated. However, the performance is greatly affected by several issues such as lattice quality, surface homogeneity, contact electrodes and gas atmosphere. Particularly surface states play a more and more important role. Lots of efforts have been made to re- move the obstacles that prevent NWs to be high-performance photodetectors.

Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detector with Optical Cavity

Increasing the detection efficiency （DE） is a hot issue in the development of the superconducting nanowire single photon detector （SNSPD）. In this work, a cavity-integrated structure coupled to the SNSPD is used to enhance the light absorption of nanowire. Ultra-thin Nb films are successfully prepared by magnetron sputtering, which are used to fabricate Nb/Al SNSPD with the curve of lOOnm and the square area of 4 × 4μm2 by sputtering and the lift-off method. To characterize the optical and electrical performance of the cavity-integrated SNSPD, a reliable cryogenic research system is built up based on a He3 system. To satisfy the need of light coupling, a packaging structure with collimator is conducted. Both DE and the dark count rates increase with lb. It is also found that the DE of SNSPD with cavities can be up to 0.17% at the temperature of 0.7K under the infrared light of 1550nm, which is obviously higher than that of the SNSPD directly fabricated upon silicon without any cavity structure.

Statistical Analysis of Excitonic Transitions in Single,Free-Standing GaN Nanowires:Probing Impurity Incorporation in the Poissonian Limit

Single,free-standing GaN nanowires grown by plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy have been investigated with low temperature micro-photoluminescence.The quantitative analysis of the luminescence spectra of around 100 nanowires revealed that each nanowire exhibits its own individual spectrum.A significant fraction of nanowires exclusively emits at energies corresponding to either surface-donor-bound or free excitons,demonstrating that optical properties of individual nanowires are determined by a few impurity atoms alone.The number of impurities per nanowire and their location within the nanowires varies according to Poissonian statistics.

Orientation and strain rate dependent tensile behavior of single crystal titanium nanowires by molecular dynamics simulations

Molecular dynamics simulation was employed to study the tensile behavior of single crystal titanium nanowires（NWs）with[112^-0],[1^-100] and[0001]orientations at different strain rates from 10^8s^-1 to 10^11s^-1.When strain rates are above 10^10s^-1,the state transformation from HCP structure to amorphous state leads to super plasticity of Ti NWs,which is similar to FCC NWs.When strain rates are below 10^10s^-1,deformation mechanisms of Ti NWs show strong dependence on orientation.For [112^-0] orientated NW.{101^-1} compression twins（CTs）and the frequently activated transformation between CTs and deformation faults lead to higher plasticity than the other two orientated NWs.Besides,tensile deformation process along [112^-0] orientation is insensitive to strain rate.For [1^-100] orientated NW,prismaticslip is the main deformation mode at 10^8s^-1.As the strain rate increases,more types of dislocations are activated during plastic deformation process.For[0001]orientated NW,{101^-2} extension twinning is the main deformation mechanism,inducing the yield stress of [0001] orientated NW,which has the highest strain rate sensitivity.The number of initial nucleated twins increases while the saturation twin volume fraction decreases nonlinearly with increasing strain rate.

Quest towards ultimate performance in superconducting nanowire single photon detectors

In 2007, superconducting nanowire single photon detectors （SSPD or SNSPD） [ 1 ] made an outstanding impact in the field of quantum information technology by demonstrating quan- tum key distribution （QKD） over a 200-kin optical fiber with a 42-dB optical loss using a practical SNSPD system [2]. This successful demonstration was realized thanks to its extremely low dark count rate （DCR） of a few Hz and short timing jitter of 60 ps, while the system detection efficiency （SDE） showed a poor value of 0.7% at a wavelength of 1550 nm.

Achieving room-temperature M_(2)-phase VO_(2) nanowires for superior thermal actuation

Vanadium dioxide (VO_(2)) has emerged as a promising micro-actuator material for its large amplitude and high work density across the transition between the insulating (M_(1) and M_(2)) and metallic (R) phase. Even though M_(2)–R transition offers about 70% higher transformation stress than M_(1)–R structural phase transition, the application of the M_(2) phase in the micro-actuators is hindered by the fact that previously, M_(2) phase can only stay stable under tensile stress. In this work, we propose and verify that by synthesizing the VO_(2) nanowires under optimized oxygen-rich conditions, stoichiometry change can be introduced into the nanowires (NWs) which in turn yield a large number free-standing single-crystalline M_(2)-phase NWs stable at room temperature. In addition, we demonstrate that the output stress of the M_(2)-phase NWs is about 65% higher than that of the M_(1)-phase NWs during their transition to R phase, quite close to the theoretical prediction. Our findings open new avenues towards enhancing the performance of VO_(2)-based actuators by using M_(2)–R transition.

32×32 NbN SNSPD array based on thermally coupled row-column multiplexing architecture

We report a superconducting nanowire single‐photon detector(SNSPD)array aiming for a near‐infrared 1550‐nm wavelength that consists of 32×32 nanowire pixels and an area of 0.96 mm×0.96 mm.Unlike most reported large‐scale SNSPD arrays with amorphous films,NbN superconducting nanowires are employed in our array,which allows the detector operation at 2.3 K provided by a compact two‐stage Gifford–McMahon cryocooler.Thermally coupled row–column multiplexing is employed in our arrays to avoid current redistribution and loss of electrical signal occurring in the electrically coupled row–column architecture.The fabricated detector array shows a pixel yield of 94%and maximal intrinsic efficiencies of 77%and 96%at 1550 nm and 405 nm,respectively.The timing jitter and the thermal coupling probability are also investigated.