Single-photon avalanche diode detectors for quantum key distribution

Buller, Gerald S.; Warburton, R. J.; Pellegrini, Sara; Ng, Jo Shien; David, J.P.R.; Tan, L.J.J.; Krysa, A. B.; Cova, S.

doi:10.1049/iet-opt:20070046

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Although significant improvements have been reported in terms of quenching approach and structure design, the major issue of the origin of afterpulsing phenomenon remains. Although several groups have reported evidence that the traps responsible for afterpulsing are found in the InP layers [156,157], serious attempts at the removal of the defect complexes have yet to begin. A concentration of research in this area is likely to yield further improvements, leading to reduced dark count rates and higher photon counting rates.…”

Section: 45mentioning

confidence: 99%

Single-photon generation and detection

Buller¹,

Collins²

2009

Meas. Sci. Technol.

243

174

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Section: 45mentioning

confidence: 99%

Single-photon generation and detection

Buller¹,

Collins²

2009

Meas. Sci. Technol.

243

174

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“…100k 10k 1k 0 4 2 3 4 SPDE, % n e w g e n e r a ti o n S P A D f ir s t g e n e r a t io n S P A D 5 DCR, c/s Fig. 2 DCR against SPDE at l ¼ 1550 nm for first and new generation InGaAs/InP SPADs at 270K with 100 kV quenching resistor in seriesA critical aspect governing InGaAs/InP SPAD performance is the deleterious effects of afterpulsing [1,5]; carriers that flow through the device during an avalanche pulse may become trapped and subsequently released after the detector is reset, causing a false event. In the freerunning mode of operation reported in this Letter, the presence of afterpulsing was manifested as an increase in the background DCR with increasing count rate, as seen with the previous generation of devices at temperatures of less than 290K.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…quantum key distribution (QKD) [1]. Gated quenching, in various guises, including the use of active quenching circuits [2], has been implemented in many of these applications to limit the charge flow per event to reduce the detrimental effects of the afterpulsing phenomenon.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved free-running InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diode detectors operating at room temperature

2009

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Room-temperature operation of InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diode detectors operating in free-running mode, with no electrical gating, is demonstrated. An improved design of device structure permitted significantly lower dark count rates than previously reported. Free-running operation at room temperature using an incident wavelength of 1550 nm gave a noise equivalent power of 1.5 Â 10 215 WHz 21/2 with improved photon timing jitter.InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diode detectors (SPADs) are favoured in a number of applications for single-photon detection at wavelengths around 1550 nm, e.g. quantum key distribution (QKD) [1]. Gated quenching, in various guises, including the use of active quenching circuits [2], has been implemented in many of these applications to limit the charge flow per event to reduce the detrimental effects of the afterpulsing phenomenon. This has permitted gating frequencies greater than 1 GHz and high count-rates at the expense of gate 'on' times. For applications such as time-resolved photoluminescence and time-of-flight laser ranging [3] long 'on' periods are required to most efficiently extract the information about the sample, or target, respectively. Ideally, a free-running detector [4] would be preferred for such applications. Recently, we reported the use of a Princeton Lightwave Inc. (PLI) InGaAs/InP SPAD employing passive quenching at low excess biases [5] which illustrated the first report of an InGaAs/ InP SPAD operating free-running at room temperature. In this work, different characteristics of device performance can be exploited depending on the choice of quenching resistor; the lower Rs the faster the recharging of the diode after an avalanche event, however with a greater Rs a higher bias could be applied resulting in higher singlephoton detection efficiency (SPDE) and lower photon-timing jitter. With the first generation of PLI InGaAs/InP SPADs we were able to achieve 3% SPDE at most temperatures and a maximum count-rate of 4 Mc/s [5]. Significantly, the low dark count rates (DCR) found in these experiments meant room-temperature operation could be achieved in free-running mode with negligible effects of afterpulsing evident. 220 240 260 temperature, K n e w g e n e ra ti o n S P A D fi rs t g e n e ra ti o n S P A D 280 300 NEP, WHz -12 Fig. 1 Minimum NEP at l ¼ 1550 nm against temperature for first and new generation InGaAs/InP SPADs operated in low excess bias passive quenching mode using 100 kV quenching resistorRecently, a new generation of 1550 nm wavelength SPAD designs was developed by PLI including negative feedback provided by the monolithic integration of a thin film resistor [6]. In the work reported in this Letter, reference samples from the same generation of devices described in [6] were used in conjunction with an external resistor to provide quenching. The SPAD design differs from that reported previously [5] in that the electric field within the InP multiplication region is designed to be significantly lower in Geiger-mode in order to suppress da...

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“…Afterpulsing is caused by charge carriers being trapped in defects, which are subsequently released causing spurious avalanches. 23,24 In order to reduce the deleterious effects of detector afterpulsing, a hold-off time was used to deactivate the detector for a predetermined duration after a recorded event, in order to allow the traps to empty without triggering further avalanches. In the measurements described in this paper a detector hold-off time of 40 μs was selected as a compromise between reducing the effects of afterpulsing and restricting the maximum count rate possible.…”

Section: And 21mentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-range depth profiling of camouflaged targets using single-photon detection

et al. 2017

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We investigate the reconstruction of depth and intensity profiles from data acquired using a customdesigned time-of-flight scanning transceiver based on the time-correlated single-photon counting technique. The system had an operational wavelength of 1550 nm and used a Peltier-cooled InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diode detector. Measurements were made of human figures, in plain view and obscured by camouflage netting, from a stand-off distance of 230 m in daylight using only submilliwatt average optical powers. These measurements were analyzed using a pixelwise cross correlation approach and compared to analysis using a bespoke algorithm designed for the restoration of multilayered three-dimensional light detection and ranging images. This algorithm is based on the optimization of a convex cost function composed of a data fidelity term and regularization terms, and the results obtained show that it achieves significant improvements in image quality for multidepth scenarios and for reduced acquisition times.

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Single-photon avalanche diode detectors for quantum key distribution

Cited by 15 publications

References 21 publications

Single-photon generation and detection

Single-photon generation and detection

Improved free-running InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diode detectors operating at room temperature

Long-range depth profiling of camouflaged targets using single-photon detection

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