近年来,以量子密钥分配为代表的各种量子信息技术应用获得了飞速发展,这些应用对单光子探测船的性能提出了非常苛刻的要求,以光电倍增管和雪崩光电二极管为代表的传统单光子探测器件已经无法满足需求。在此背景下,出现了以超导单光子探测器为代表的新型低温单光子探测器件,其性能比现有商用单光子探测器有了本质性的提升。本文综述了迄今为止各种类型的单光子探测器,并指出各自在量子信息技术应用中的优势和不足之处以及发展方向。
In the last decade, more and more quantum information applications such as quantum key distribution have been extensively demonstrated. These emerging applications place rigorous demands on detector performance such as detection efficiency, intrinsic photon number resolving ability etc. that go beyond the capabilities of traditional single-photon detectors composed of either photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) or avalanche photodiodes (APDs). Fortunately, several new types of cryogenic detectors such as superconducting transition edge sensor (TES), supereonductirig nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD), and quantum-dot based single photon detector (QD SPD)have been realized recently. Here we review all kinds of single photon detector technologies at the present time, Advantages, disadvantages, and potential improvement of these techniques for quantum information applications are also discussed.