Breakdown flash at telecom wavelengths in InGaAs avalanche photodiodes

Abstract

Quantum key distribution (QKD) at telecom wavelengths (1260-1625nm) has the potential for fast deployment due to existing optical fibre infrastructure and mature telecom technologies. At these wavelengths, indium gallium arsenide (InGaAs) avalanche photodiode (APD) based detectors are the preferred choice for photon detection. Similar to their silicon counterparts used at shorter wavelengths, they exhibit fluorescence from recombination of electron-hole pairs generated in the avalanche breakdown process. This fluorescence may open side channels for attacks on QKD systems. Here, we characterize the breakdown fluorescence from two commercial InGaAs single photon counting modules, and find a spectral distribution between 1000nm and 1600nm. We also show that by spectral filtering, this side channel can be efficiently suppressed.

4 pages, 4 figures

References in corpus (2)

• Advances in InGaAs/InP single-photon detector systems for quantum communication
• Free-space quantum key distribution with entangled photons

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• Wide-spectrum security of quantum key distribution
• Simulations of distributed-phase-reference quantum key distribution protocols
• Backflash Attack on Coherent One-Way Quantum Key Distribution