MIT
Quantum Nanostructures and
Nanofabrication Group

Prof. Karl K. Berggren and Dr. P. Donald Keathley

The frontier of information processing lies in nanoscience and nanotechnology research. At the nanoscale, materials and structures can be engineered to exhibit interesting new properties, some based on quantum mechanical effects. Our research focuses on developing nanofabrication technology at the few-nanometer length-scale. We use these technologies to push the envelope of what is possible with photonic and electrical devices, focusing in particular on superconductive and free-electron devices. Our research combines electrical engineering, physics, and materials science and helps extend the limits of nanoscale engineering.

LATEST EVENTS IN OUR GROUP

4.29.2020
New video “Optimizing Superconducting Thin Films for Nanowire Single Photon Detectors”
MIT Materials Research Laboratory 2019 Summer Scholar Leah Borgsmiller worked on niobium-aluminum thin films for superconducting nanowire single photon detectors in the QNN lab. Borgsmiller grew thin films, measured their... Read more >>
4.16.2020
New Publication “Resolving photon numbers using a superconducting tapered nanowire detector”
Time- and number-resolved photon detection is crucial for quantum information processing. Existing photon-number-resolving (PNR) detectors usually suffer from limited timing and dark-count performance or require complex fabrication and operation. Here,... Read more >>
3.3.2020
New Publication “Demonstration of sub-3 ps temporal resolution with a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector”
Improvements in temporal resolution of single-photon detectors enable increased data rates and transmission distances for both classical and quantum optical communication systems, higher spatial resolution in laser ranging, and observation... Read more >>
2.16.2020
New Grant “Nanostructured optical-field samplers for visible to near-infrared time-domain spectroscopy”
QNN awarded new SENSE.nano seed grant for the development of nanostructured optical-field samplers for visible to near-infrared time-domain spectroscopy. More information on this project and the other SENSE.nano awards may... Read more >>
1.7.2020
New Publication “Single-Photon Single-Flux Coupled Detectors”
In this work, we present a novel device that is a combination of a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector and a superconducting multilevel memory. We show that these devices can be... Read more >>

The nanocryotron: A superconducting-nanowire three-terminal electrothermal device