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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Measurement of InGaAs single photon detector quantum efficiency at 1550nm

Kun Zhao, Changming Liu, Haidong Chen, Xueshun Shi

Published Feb 20, 2015• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Single photon detectors nowadays are widely used in numerous applications such as quantum cryptography, laser ranging, single molecule spectroscopy and so on. And the calibration of the detection efficiency is quite important for some of the applications. In recent years, researchers find that correlated photon pairs can be employed to calibrate the detection efficiency of single-photon detectors with quite high precision. Firstly, we calibrated the InGaAs single photon detector quantum efficiency at 1550nm by correlated photon pairs. Consistency between the measurement result using correlated photon pairs and the reference value is better than 0.8%. Secondly, the detectors are calibrated with an attenuated laser source. Thirdly, the two methods for measuring the quantum efficiency of single photon detectors, correlated photon pairs and laser attenuation, respectively, are discussed and analyzed in detail. Finally, results derived from the two methods have been compared with each other.

DOI
10.1117/12.2076017

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Single photon detectors nowadays are widely used in numerous applications such as quantum cryptography, laser ranging, single molecule spectroscopy and so on. And the calibration of the detection efficiency is quite important for some of the applications. In recent years, researchers find that correlated photon pairs can be employed to calibrate the detection efficiency of single-photon detectors with quite high precision. Firstly, we calibrated the InGaAs single photon detector quantum efficiency at 1550nm by correlated photon pairs. Consistency between the measurement result using correlated photon pairs and the reference value is better than 0.8%. Secondly, the detectors are calibrated with an attenuated laser source. Thirdly, the two methods for measuring the quantum efficiency of single photon detectors, correlated photon pairs and laser attenuation, respectively, are discussed and analyzed in detail. Finally, results derived from the two methods have been compared with each other.
InGaAs/InP single-photon detectors are today the most frequently used detectors for fibre-based Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) [1,2]. The performance of the QKD-systems greatly depends on the optical properties of its detector, such as quantum efficiency, dead time, dark counts, gating rate, etc., which need to be metrologically characterized to fully grantee the QKD network security. Therefore, several European National Metrological Institutes (NMIs) are putting today great efforts in developing novel measurement methods and calibration facilities, which allow to perform the traceable characterisation of single-photon detectors by using reference standards [3, 4]. From the metrological, and specifically radiometric, point of view, the detection efficiency of the single-photon detector is the main parameter that needs to be traceable to the primary standard for optical power (i.e. the cryogenic radiometer), which is maintained by most of the NMIs. Recently, four European NMIs have carried out a pilot comparison on the detection efficiency of a free-running InGaAs/InP single-photon detector, which main purpose has been to provide a snapshot of the measurement capabilities of the four European NMIs in the field of photon counting detection. The comparison was carried out in the framework of the EMPIR project 14IND05 “Optical metrology for quantum-enhanced secure telecommunication (MIQC2)” at the telecom wavelength of 1550 nm by using different reference standards with independently traceability chains. The results of this comparison, including the different experimental setups, the measurement methods, the traceability chain and the uncertainty evaluation of each participant, will be presented in this conference. References: [1] Akihisa Tomita, et al., “High speed quantum key distribution system”, Optical Fiber Technology, 16, Issue 1, 55-62 (2010). [2] Damien Stucki, et al., “Photon counting for quantum key distribution with peltier cooled InGaAs/InP APDs”, Journal of Modern Optics, 48, Issue 13, 1967-1981 (2001). [3] M. López, et al, “Detection efficiency calibration of single-photon silicon avalanche photodiodes traceable using double attenuator technique, Journal of Modern Optics 62, S21 – S27, 2015. [4] G. Porrovecchio, et al., “Comparison at the sub-100 fW optical power level of calibrating a single-photon detector using a high-sensitive, low-noise silicon photodiode and the double attenuator technique”, Metrologia 53, 1115-1122 (2016).
The quantum efficiency of photon counters can be measured with standard uncertainty below 1% level using correlated photon pairs generated through spontaneous parametric down-conversion process. Normally a laser in UV, blue or green wavelength range with sufficient photon energy is applied to produce energy and momentum conserved photon pairs in two channels with desired wavelengths for calibration. One channel is used as the heralding trigger, and the other is used for the calibration of the detector under test. A superconducting nanowire single photon detector with advantages such as high photon counting speed (<20 MHz), low dark count rate (<50 counts per second), and wideband responsivity (UV to near infrared) is used as the trigger detector, enabling correlated photons calibration capabilities into shortwave visible range. For a 355nm single longitudinal mode pump laser, when a superconducting nanowire single photon detector is used as the trigger detector at 1064nm and 1560nm in the near infrared range, the photon counting efficiency calibration capabilities can be realized at 532nm and 460nm. The quantum efficiency measurement on photon counters such as photomultiplier tubes and avalanche photodiodes can be then further extended in a wide wavelength range (e.g. 400-1000nm) using a flat spectral photon flux source to meet the calibration demands in cutting edge low light applications such as time resolved fluorescence and nonlinear optical spectroscopy, super resolution microscopy, deep space observation, and so on.
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Detection efficiency calibration based on correlated photons is a high precision calibration method at the single photon level. During the calibration process, measured time, photon count rate, and channel detection efficiency are important experimental parameters that affect the measured uncertainty of detection efficiency. This paper constructs simulation models of measured uncertainty with experimental parameters by the correlated photons method. Our experiment measures and predicts the uncertainty when parameters change. This research provides a quantitative basis for experimental parameter settings of calibration of single photon detectors using correlated photons technology.