Time-gated single-photon detection module with 110 ps transition time and up to 80 MHz repetition rate

Abstract

We present the design and characterization of a complete single-photon counting module capable of time-gating a silicon single-photon avalanche diode with ON and OFF transition times down to 110 ps, at repetition rates up to 80 MHz. Thanks to this sharp temporal filtering of incoming photons, it is possible to reject undesired strong light pulses preceding (or following) the signal of interest, allowing to increase the dynamic range of optical acquisitions up to 7 decades. A complete experimental characterization of the module highlights its very flat temporal response, with a time resolution of the order of 30 ps. The instrument is fully user-configurable via a PC interface and can be easily integrated in any optical setup, thanks to its small and compact form factor.

Fast silicon photomultiplier improves signal harvesting and reduces complexity in time-domain diffuse optics

“…Thanks to this feature, a single measurement is sufficient to directly uncouple absorption from scattering contributions, thus leading -for a homogeneous medium -to the absolute quantification of both absorption and reduced scattering coefficients. Further, in the case of reflectance geometry, with light source and detection points placed on the same side of the medium at a relative distance ρ, the mean penetration depth of detected photons steadily increases upon increasing the photon arrival time [39,40], thus permitting deep tissue imaging even at null-ρ [41][42][43] with the chance to reach a record level of source-detector couples coverage to maximize the detected signal and the spatial resolution, provided that an efficient time-gating mechanism is employed to avoid the blinking burst of undesired early-arriving photons [44][45][46]. However, the main limitations of TD as compared to CW systems during the last two decades have always been high cost and complexity, thus affecting the maximum number of injection and detection channels, and wider deployment of instruments for clinical use.…”

New frontiers in time-domain diffuse optics, a review

“…[116][117][118] In this way, the early light exiting from the tissue will generate millions of electron-hole pairs without affecting the detector performance at late times. [116][117][118] In this way, the early light exiting from the tissue will generate millions of electron-hole pairs without affecting the detector performance at late times.…”

Photon-Flooded Single-Photon 3D Cameras

“…5 shows plots of the relative RMSE as a function of attenuation factor Υ, for a wide range of Φ bkg and Φ sig values. 5 For example, consider a depth range of 100 m and a bin resolution of ∆ = 100 ps. Then, the 1% rule of thumb recommends extreme attenuation so that each bin receives ≈ 1.5 × 10 −6 photons.…”

“…1. We used a 405 nm wavelength, pulsed, picosecond laser (PicoQuant LDH P-C-405B) and a co-located fastgated single-pixel SPAD detector [5] the relative depth errors that were experimentally acquired over a wide range of ambient and source flux levels and different attenuation factors. These experimental curves follow the same trends observed in the simulated plots of Fig.…”