Superconducting nanowire single photon detector at 532 nm and   demonstration in satellite laser ranging
  Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) at a wavelength of 532 nm were designed and fabricated aiming to satellite laser ranging (SLR) applications. The NbN SNSPDs were fabricated on one-dimensional photonic crystals with a sensitive-area diameter of 42 um. The devices were coupled with multimode fiber (phi=50um) and exhibited a maximum system detection efficiency of 75% at an extremely low dark count rate of <0.1 Hz. An SLR experiment using an SNSPD at a wavelength of 532 nm was successfully demonstrated. The results showed a depth ranging with a precision of ~8.0 mm for the target satellite LARES, which is ~3,000 km away from the ground ranging station at the Sheshan Observatory. 
Hao Li, Sijing Chen, Lixing You, Wengdong Meng, Zhibo Wu, Zhongping   Zhang, Kai Tang, Lu Zhang, Weijun Zhang, Xiaoyan Yang,...
cond-mat.supr-con physics.ins-det physics.optics