Characterization of sinusoidal gating of InGaAs/InP single photon avalanche diodes

IEEE J. Quantum Electron.

et al. 2013

Self Cite

We demonstrate balanced InGaAs/InP single photon avalanche diodes operated in gated mode for a data transmission rate of up to 20 MHz. The common-mode signal cancellation realized with the balanced configuration enabled detection of small avalanche pulses. For a laser repletion rate of 20 MHz at 240 K, the dark count probability for a photon detection efficiency of 13% is 1.9 × 10 −5 . The afterpulse probability is 0.3% for a 2 ns pulse width, hold-off time of 20 ns, and 10% PDE, at 240 K.Index Terms-Avalanche photodiodes, infrared detectors, noise cancellation, optical receivers, optoelectronic and photonic sensors, RF signals, signal to noise ratio.

Section: Afterpulsing Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 45%

Section: Detection Efficiency and Dark Count Probabilitymentioning

confidence: 98%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pulsed Gating With Balanced InGaAs/InP Single Photon Avalanche Diodes

Sun

IEEE J. Quantum Electron.

et al. 2013

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“…Afterpulse probability is also compared with the previously reported conventional sinusoidal gating [7]. Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The dual SPAD receiver was also tested with sinusoidal gating [7] at 240K. The gating frequency was 80 MHz.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Single photon detection with sine gated dual InGaAs/InP avalanche diodes

Sun

IEEE Photonics Conference 2012

et al. 2012

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We propose and demonstrate a technique cancel common mode signals of sinusoidally gated single photon avalanche diodes (SPADs). This approach enables the elimination of narrowband filters that fix the frequency of conventional single photon detection with sine wave gating.Index terms -single-photon avalanche diode, single-photon detection, photon counting, dark count rate, afterpulsing, infrared photons, InP.

Single photon avalanche diodes

71st Device Research Conference

2013

Applications for single photon detection include optical time domain reflectometry [1], quantum key distribution (QKD) [2], laser ranging [3], threedimensional imaging [4,5], time resolved spectroscopy [6], circuit testing [7], and biological imaging [8]. Two common candidates are superconducting single-photon detectors (SSPDs) [9] and upconversion detectors [10]. However, while the performance of SSPDs is excellent with regard to detection efficiency and noise, they require cryogenic temperatures (< 4K) and upconversion detectors exhibit spurious nonlinear noise. To date, much of the research requiring detection at single photon levels has utilized photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). However, PMTs are bulky, expensive and, fragile; they are also sensitive to magnetic fields, they have limited dynamic range, and can be damaged by ambient light. Semiconductor single photon avalanche detectors (SPADs) are proving to be an alternative to PMTs for some applications. SPADs function as digital optical switches; initially armed in a low current "off" state they can be triggered to a high current "on" state by an incident photon. Typically, this event is registered in a digital counter. The device is then rearmed for detection of subsequent photons by a quenching circuit. Two key performance parameters are photon detection efficiency and dark count probability. The photon detection efficiency and dark count probabilities are the probability that a photon triggers an avalanche event and the probability that a count originated with a carrier from the device dark current, respectively. At this point, SPADs that operate from the ultraviolet to the near infrared spectral regions have demonstrated high photon detection efficiencies and acceptable dark count (noise) levels. In the infrared excellent single photon detection performance has been reported for InGa 0.53 As 0.47 /InP avalanche photodiodes (APDs) [4][5][6][11][12][13]. For example, Hu et al. have reported single photon detection efficiency (SPDE) of 30% with dark count probability of 1 10 -5 at 230K at 1.31 μm [12], while Itzler et al. have shown a similar results [13], SPDE of ~ 20% with dark count rate of a few kHz with moderate cooling. Recently, at an operation wavelength of 1.55 μm, Tosi et al. have reported dark count rate as low as 400 s -1 with SPDE of 28% at 175K [14]. In the ultraviolet SiC SPADs have achieved high single photon detection efficiency of 30% with dark count probability of 8×10 -4 at room temperature [15].While work continues to increase the photon detection efficiency and decrease the dark count rate, present performance of InGa 0.53 As 0.47 /InP SPADs is adequate applications such as quantum key distribution and three-dimensional imaging. One of the most pressing challenges for these SPADs is to increase the detection rate, which is limited by the dead time after detection [16]. The dead time of a single photon receiver is the time that the receiver needs to reset itself. Afterpulsing is one of the primary factors that determines the dead time. Af...