Fig. 1
Device architecture and operation principle. a–d Three-dimensional sketch of the device. The on-chip focusing echelle grating operates as wavelength-discriminating microphotonic component while the superconducting nanowire functions simultaneously as a single-photon detector and a slow microwave delay line to continuously map the dispersed photons. The nanowire is capped with AlOx as high-k dielectric material and Al as top metal ground to form a slow microwave transmission line. e Schematic illustration of the Rowland mounting. The input waveguide and the superconducting nanowire are mounted on the Rowland circle, which internally tangents with the focusing grating line. The focusing grating is projected from a flat grating with the radius of the curvature equal to the diameter of the Rowland circle. f Schematic representation of the signal transduction pathway and the device operation principle
