A high-performance integrated single-photon detector for telecom wavelengths

Abstract

We have integrated a commercial avalanche photodiode (APD) and the circuitry needed to operate it as a single-photon detector (SPD) onto a single PC-board. At temperatures accessible with Peltier coolers (~200-240K), the PCB-SPD achieves high detection efficiency (DE) at 1308 and 1545 nm with low dark count probability (e.g. ~10-6/bias pulse at DE=20%, 220 K), making it useful for quantum key distribution (QKD). The board generates fast bias pulses, cancels noise transients, amplifies the signals, and sends them to an on-board discriminator. A digital blanking circuit suppresses afterpulsing.

(10 pages, 6 figures)

References in corpus (6)

• Quantum Cryptography
• Quantum Key Distribution over 67 km with a plug & play system
• Photon counting for quantum key distribution with Peltier cooled InGaAs/InP APD's
• A balanced gated-mode photon detector for qubit discrimination in 1550 nm
• On the Stability of the Classical Vacua in a Minimal SU(5) 5-D Supergravity Model
• Enhanced Autocompensating Quantum Cryptography System

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Advances in InGaAs/InP single-photon detector systems for quantum communication
• Search for photon oscillations into massive particles
• Room temperature single-photon detectors for high bit rate quantum key distribution
• Performance of various quantum key distribution systems using 1.55 um up-conversion single-photon detectors
• Dead time duration and active reset influence on the afterpulse probability of InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diodes
• Reply to "Comment on `Resilience of gated avalanche photodiodes against bright illumination attacks in quantum cryptography'"
• An integral gated mode single photon detector at telecom wavelengths
• Method for characterizing single photon detectors in saturation regime by cw laser
• Derivation of sensitivity of a Geiger mode APDs detector from a given efficiency for QKD experiments