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Review of Scientific Instruments

Fast and compact multichannel photon coincidence unit for quantum information processing

Sascha Gaertner, Harald Weinfurter, Christian Kurtsiefer

Published Dec 1, 2005• 25 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present a fast and compact multichannel coincidence unit to count all possible single and coincidence detection events in an experiment with eight single-photon detectors at once. Using high-speed electronics and a microcontroller, this device is able to process up to 800000events∕s. The coincidence window can be tuned within a range of 4–12ns. The device can be easily scaled to any number of input channels and is thus ideally suited for efficient multiphoton quantum information processing.

DOI
10.1063/1.2149007

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We present a fast and compact multichannel coincidence unit to count all possible single and coincidence detection events in an experiment with eight single-photon detectors at once. Using high-speed electronics and a microcontroller, this device is able to process up to 800000events∕s. The coincidence window can be tuned within a range of 4–12ns. The device can be easily scaled to any number of input channels and is thus ideally suited for efficient multiphoton quantum information processing.
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We present a multichannel coincidence-counting module for use in quantum optics experiments. The circuit takes up to four transistor-transistor logic pulse inputs and counts either twofold, threefold, or fourfold coincidences, within a user-selected coincidence-time window as short as 12 ns. The module can accurately count eight sets of multichannel coincidences, for input rates of up to 84 MHz. Due to their low cost and small size, multiple modules can easily be combined to count arbitrary M-order coincidences among N inputs.
Real-time analysis of single-photon coincidence is critical in photonic quantum computing. The large channel number and high counting rate foreseen in such experiments pose a big challenge for the conventional time tagged method and coincidence instruments. Here we propose a real-time time-tagged coincidence method and a data filtering solution, demonstrated by a 32-channel coincidence counting unit that has been implemented successfully on a field-programmable gate array system. The unit provides high counting rates, a tunable coincidence window, and a timing resolution of 390 ps. Beyond that, it is feasible to be scaled up to 104 channels and is thus ideally suited for channel consuming applications such as boson sampling. Based on the versatility and scalability the unit has shown, we believe that it is the turn-key solution for many single-photon coincidence counting applications in photonic quantum computing.
In this paper we present the data acquisition (DAQ) system for a multichannel coincidence photon counter where this DAQ is optimized for a small coincidence window, high speed data retrieving without reduction and parallel data processing. For single photon detection we use Avalanche Photodiodes (APD) which are practical tools for detection in quantum optics and photonics quantum information experiments. However they introduce noise into the measurements originating from their dark count detection and after pulsing. One way to limit this contribution is to decrease the time window in which the coincidence detection measurement is performed. We have developed this DAQ based entirely on a standard Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) where the width of the coincidence time window is in the sub-nanosecond range. The same unit is also responsible for sending the result to the User Interface (UI). The communication between the UI and the FPGA platform is through a single link Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) by means of streaming DMA. Our DAQ is developed for Xilinx Spartan-6 devices but other devices are also supported. A Linux driver with all necessary functionality to communicate with the DAQ as well as the UI is also developed. The use of our unit can be extended for other detection counting physical systems.
A flexible and low-cost Coincidence Counting Unit (CCU) with customizable features that are software selectable is designed and developed for the use in various experiments of quantum information and quantum metrology. A digital logic-based implementation approach using Field Programmable Gate Array is followed with specific emphasis on reducing the time for coincidence events of photons and making it easily scalable. In this paper, an 8-channel CCU with software configurable features such as coincidence window selection (in increment of 0.54 ns) and 8-fold coincidences (up to 4 sets) at a time has been implemented.