Noise-free avalanche multiplication in Si solid state photomultipliers

Kim, Jungsang; Yamamoto, Yoshihisa; Hogue, Henry H.

doi:10.1063/1.119022

Cited by 36 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Previous measurements of F for the VLPC have determined that it is less than 1.03 [1], which is nearly noise free multiplication. This number was obtained by measuring the variance of the 1 photon peak, and comparing to the mean.…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The VLPC features high quantum efficiencies ( 94%), and low pulse height dispersion [1,2]. This latter property makes the VLPC useful for photon number detection [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In order to do accurate photon number detection, this multiplication noise must be low. Fortunately, the VLPC has been measured to have nearly noise-free multiplication [1].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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High-efficiency photon-number detection for quantum information processing

Waks

Inoue

Oliver

et al. 2003

IEEE J. Select. Topics Quantum Electron.

110

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The Visible Light Photon Counter (VLPC) features high quantum efficiency and low pulse height dispersion. These properties make it ideal for efficient photon number state detection. The ability to perform efficient photon number state detection is important in many quantum information processing applications, including recent proposals for performing quantum computation with linear optical elements. In this paper we investigate the unique capabilities of the VLPC. The efficiency of the detector and cryogenic system is measured at 543nm wavelengths to be 85%. A picosecond pulsed laser is then used to excite the detector with pulses having average photon numbers ranging from 3-5. The output of the VLPC is used to discriminate photon numbers in a pulse. The error probability for number state discrimination is an increasing function of the number of photons, due to buildup of multiplication noise. This puts an ultimate limit on the ability of the VLPC to do number state detection. For many applications, it is sufficient to discriminate between 1 and more than one detected photon. The VLPC can do this with 99% accuracy.

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Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The VLPC features high quantum efficiencies ( 94%), and low pulse height dispersion [1,2]. This latter property makes the VLPC useful for photon number detection [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

High-efficiency photon-number detection for quantum information processing

Waks

Inoue

Oliver

et al. 2003

IEEE J. Select. Topics Quantum Electron.

110

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show abstract

“…9,14 Furthermore, the avalanche breakdown is confined to a small portion (ϳ20 m diameter͒ of the total area ͑1 mm diameter͒ of the detector. This means that the remainder of the device is still active for another photon detection even if a single photon is detected.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiphoton detection using visible light photon counter

Kim

Takeuchi

Yamamoto

et al. 1999

Applied Physics Letters

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281

191

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Visible light photon counters feature noise-free avalanche multiplication and narrow pulse height distribution for single photon detection events. Such a well-defined pulse height distribution for a single photon detection event, combined with the fact that the avalanche multiplication is confined to a small area of the whole detector, opens up the possibility for the simultaneous detection of two photons. In this letter, we investigated this capability using twin photons generated by parametric down conversion, and present a high quantum efficiency (ϳ47%) detection of two photons with good time resolution (ϳ2 ns), which can be distinguished from a single-photon incidence with a small bit-error rate (ϳ0.63%).

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“…[8][9][10] The quantum efficiency of a VLPC was estimated to be 93%, but the measured value as a system was less than 70%. 1 The difficulty was that, in order to cope with both ''high quantum efficiency'' and ''low dark counts,'' a special shielding system which has high transmittance for the desired wavelength but filters out room-temperature radiation sufficiently is required.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a high-quantum-efficiency single-photon counting system

Takeuchi

Kim

Yamamoto

et al. 1999

Applied Physics Letters

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233

182

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A high-quantum-efficiency single-photon counting system has been developed. In this system, single photons were detected by a visible light photon counter operated at 6.9 K. The visible light photon counter is a solid state device that makes use of avalanches across a shallow impurity conduction band in silicon. Threefold tight shielding and viewports that worked as infrared blocking filters were used to eliminate the dark count caused by room-temperature radiation. Corrected quantum efficiencies as high as 88.2%Ϯ5% ͑at 694 nm͒ were observed, which we believe is the highest reported value for a single-photon detector. The dark count increased as the exponential of the quantum efficiency with changing temperature or bias voltage, and was 2.0ϫ10 4 cps at the highest quantum efficiency. © 1999 American Institute of Physics. ͓S0003-6951͑99͒01308-X͔ Photon counting methods have been widely applied to the accurate measurement of very weak lights, and have recently been used in quantum key distribution systems which encode a data bit to a single photon. The sensitivity of the measurement and the data transmission efficiency depends on the quantum efficiency of photon counters. Therefore, improvements in quantum efficiency have been the main issue in the development of photon counters. Photomultiplier tubes ͑PMTs͒ have been commonly used as the photon counter, however, their quantum efficiency is 25% at its most sensitive wavelength and 15% in the near infrared region. Silicon avalanche photodiodes ͑APDs͒ operating in Geiger mode have become popular, and a quantum efficiency of 76% was recorded with the APD, 1 which is the highest value so far. One of the important applications for such a highquantum-efficiency photon counter is the loophole free test of Bell's inequality. [2][3][4][5] In order to close the loophole, the quantum efficiency of the system has to be higher than 83% when an ordinary Einstein-Podorsky-Rosen ͑EPR͒ pair source is used. 6,7 The loophole free test has not been performed yet, and the lack of a highly efficient single-photon counting system over the threshold is one of the reasons.The visible light photon counter ͑VLPC͒ is an alternative detector, which is a solid state device using the avalanche multiplication effect of electrons in an impurity band in silicon. [8][9][10] The quantum efficiency of a VLPC was estimated to be 93%, but the measured value as a system was less than 70%. 1 The difficulty was that, in order to cope with both ''high quantum efficiency'' and ''low dark counts,'' a special shielding system which has high transmittance for the desired wavelength but filters out room-temperature radiation sufficiently is required. Infrared photons of the radiation up to 28 m in wavelength can excite electrons in the shallow impurity band and might cause large dark count ͑up to 10 15 cps). We developed the cryostat system shown in Fig. 1. Threefold shields at 77, 4, and 6.5 K were used to reduce the thermal photons reaching the detector. We put felt between the shields to block the background...

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Noise-free avalanche multiplication in Si solid state photomultipliers

Cited by 36 publications

References 10 publications

High-efficiency photon-number detection for quantum information processing

High-efficiency photon-number detection for quantum information processing

Multiphoton detection using visible light photon counter

Development of a high-quantum-efficiency single-photon counting system

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