Nanosecond-scale timing jitter for single photon detection in transition edge sensors

Abstract

Transition edge sensors (TES) have the highest reported efficiencies (>98%) for single photon detection in the visible and near infrared. Experiments in quantum information and foundations of physics that rely on this efficiency have started incorporating these detectors. However, their range of applicability has been hindered by slow operation both in recovery time and timing jitter. We show how a conventional tungsten-TES can be operated with jitter times of ≈4 ns, providing a practical simplification for experiments that rely on simultaneous high efficiency and low timing uncertainty, such as loophole free Bell inequalities and device independent quantum cryptography.