Research progress of photon response mechanism of superconducting nanowire single photon detector

Superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) plays a significant role in plenty of fields such as quantum information, deep space laser communication and lidar, while the mechanism of the photon response process still lacks a recognized theory. It is prerequisite and essential for fabricating high-performance SNSPD to understand in depth and clarify the photon response mechanism of the SNSPD. As mature theories on the SNSPD response progress, hot-spot model and vortex-based model both have their disadvantages: in the former there exists the cut-off wavelength and in the later there is the size effect, so they both need further improving. The Cut-off wavelength means that the detection efficiency of the SNSPD drops to zero with the increase of light wavelength, which is indicated by the hot-spot model but not yet observed in experiment. The size effect implies that the vortex does not exist in the weak link with the width less than 4.41 xi, where xi is the GL coherence length. Phase slip is responsible for the intrinsic dissipation of superconductors, which promises to expound the SNSPD photon response progress and to establish a complete theory. This paper reviews and discusses the fundamental conception, the development history and the research progress of the hot-spot models, i.e. the vortex-based model and the superconductor phase slips, providing a reference for studying the SNSPD photon response mechanism.