Traceable calibration of Si avalanche photodiodes using synchrotron radiation

Abstract

In this paper, we present a new substitution method based on the unique properties of synchrotron radiation and of the Metrology Light Source (MLS), the dedicated electron storage ring of the PTB. The MLS is used as a light source with a dynamic range of its photon flux of 11 orders of magnitude to bridge the gap in optical power measurement between a cryogenic electrical substitution radiometer and a single photon detector. Two single photon avalanche diodes were calibrated at 651 nm with combined relative uncertainties of 0.17% and 0.16% traceable to a primary standard, a cryogenic electrical substitution radiometer.

Improvement of the detection efficiency calibration and homogeneity measurement of Si-SPAD detectors

“…The lowest uncertainty so far reported using this approach is 0.18%. Nevertheless, even when the achieved uncertainty is similar to those reported using the detector substitution technique ( u  = 0.16–0.3%) (López et al 2015; Müller et al 2012), the latter is mostly preferred by most of the national metrology institutes, since it uses a calibrated reference detector traceable to the primary reference standard (cryogenic radiometer) for the optical radiant power measurement; and thus, the traceability to a national primary standard is in this way fully assured. For this reason, the setup used to determine the detection efficiency of Si-SPAD detectors at Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), the German National Metrology Institute, is based on this approach, which uses the double attenuator technique (López et al 2015).…”

Calibration of free-space and fiber-coupled single-photon detectors*

“…Attenuation of the laser power to the single-photon regime is achieved by calibrating attenuator(s) over multiple orders of magnitude. Müller et al have demonstrated a different method for SPD calibration by use of a synchrotron light source [13,14]. The synchrotron output flux is linear with ring current, thus by control and measurement of the ring current the synchrotron's output can be tuned over many orders of magnitude, extending even to single-photon levels, without the need of attenuator calibration.…”

Metrology Perspective of Single‐Photon Detectors: Review on Global Calibration Methods

“…[ 99 ] Using synchrotron radiation, the combined relative standard uncertainty achieved in calibrating Si‐SPADs is 0.16% and 0.17% at a wavelength of 651 nm. [ 77 ]…”