Single Photon Counting with Silicon Photomultipliers, shortening systems and incoherent illumination

Abstract

In this work it is shown the benefit of using pulse shortening systems for conforming photodetection pulses provided by Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs). One of the main drawbacks when using SiPMs is the slow falling edge in the detection signal which can reach even hundreds of nanoseconds. Pulses obtained when using the shortening systems proposed here are single narrow peaks, with full width at half maximum (FWHM) around 10 ns, preserving the photonic modulation and with good pseudo-gaussian shape, single polarity and low ringing. Different tests are presented to illustrate the advantage of these systems in the detection of single photons emitted in short, incoherent pulses.

A readout circuit dedicated for the detection of chemiluminescence using a silicon photomultiplier

“…The photon counting approach is widely used in the measurement of low-level light using PMTs and SiPMs [5,[17][18][19][20]. The possibilities of detecting bioluminescence using photon counting readouts are explored in [17,21].…”

Application of the Silicon Photomultiplier for Fluorescence Photobleaching Measurement

“…For this purpose, it is necessary to use sensitive equipment that allows registration of differences at the level of photons. In the paper we propose the silicon photomultiplier which enables measurement with the resolution of single photons [4]. It is an element composed of a matrix of parallel-connected avalanche photodiodes, placed on a common substrate and working in Geiger mode.…”