Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors Excel in DCS Applications

Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital and MIT Lincoln Laboratory have developed a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD)-based diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) device. The instrument demonstrated a high signal-to-noise ratio and high sensitivity for blood flow. This study marks one of the first-ever applications of SNSPDs in a biomedical setting, the researchers said. DCS involves the illumination of tissues with near-infrared laser rays. The light is scattered by the movement of red blood cells and the resulting pattern is analyzed by a detector to determine blood flow. DCS is a useful technique for the measure of cerebral blood flow, which itself is a sensitive marker of cerebrovascular...