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

Quantum filtering theory and the reduction of dark count, dark current and optical crosstalk in optical detectors

Armien John Samson

Published Apr 29, 2016• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In developing sensitive optical sensors, issues associated with optical crosstalk, dark count, and dark current persist. While designs have been created to mitigate the effects of these optical noises on the performance of the sensors, they are never fully addressed. This is mainly due to the highly probabilistic nature of the interaction of light and matter. This paper theoretically explores possible solutions that could lead to the significant reduction of these optical noises by presenting the problem in both the Markovian and Bayesian quantum feedback schemes and identifying the parameters that can be controlled and/or regulated. This paper then attempts to translate the quantum processes into realizable materials and/or systems suitable for fabrication or integration to existing system.

DOI
10.1117/12.2228325

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In developing sensitive optical sensors, issues associated with optical crosstalk, dark count, and dark current persist. While designs have been created to mitigate the effects of these optical noises on the performance of the sensors, they are never fully addressed. This is mainly due to the highly probabilistic nature of the interaction of light and matter. This paper theoretically explores possible solutions that could lead to the significant reduction of these optical noises by presenting the problem in both the Markovian and Bayesian quantum feedback schemes and identifying the parameters that can be controlled and/or regulated. This paper then attempts to translate the quantum processes into realizable materials and/or systems suitable for fabrication or integration to existing system.
In developing sensitive optical sensors, issues associated with optical crosstalk, dark count, and dark current persist. While designs have been created to mitigate the effects of these optical noises on the performance of the sensors, they are never fully addressed. This is mainly due to the highly probabilistic nature of the interaction of light and matter. This paper theoretically explores possible solutions that could lead to the significant reduction of these optical noises by presenting the problem in both the Markovian and Bayesian quantum feedback schemes and identifying the parameters that can be controlled and/or regulated. This paper then attempts to translate the quantum processes into realizable materials and/or systems suitable for fabrication or integration to existing system.
Quantum sensors represent a revolutionary technology with the potential to surpass the limits of classical sensors across a wide range of applications, including precision measurement, navigation, and medical diagnostics. However, the realization of this potential is significantly hindered by the pervasive presence of noise. This work addresses the critical need for accurate noise modeling and effective suppression techniques within quantum sensors. We introduce a novel noise model that incorporates both thermal and coherent noise sources, explicitly accounting for the quantum mechanical nature of these sensors. This model is then utilized to design and analyze various noise suppression strategies, including feedback control algorithms and advanced filtering methods. The theoretical framework presented here provides a foundation for improved sensor design and operation, ultimately driving advancements in quantum sensing technology. The core claim of this work is that precise noise modeling and effective suppression techniques are paramount for enhancing the precision of quantum sensors. This is achieved through the establishment of a new noise model and the subsequent design of suppression techniques such as feedback control and filtering. The novelty lies in the detailed and accurate representation of noise sources within the quantum sensor system.
General relativity predicts the existence of Gravitational Waves (GWs), ripples in spacetime that are now observable to highly sensitive interferometers. However, Quantum Noise (QN) poses a significant challenge for Gravitational Wave (GW) interferometers, influencing the entire bandwidth range (10-10,000 Hz) of the current GW detectors. At higher frequencies, Shot Noise (SN) predominates, while at lower frequencies, Radiation Pressure Noise (RPN) becomes the limiting factor, reducing both sensitivity and measurement precision. Squeezing techniques are implemented to address this issue by confining uncertainty within one quadrature of the light field. During O4, LIGO successfully implemented Frequency-Dependent Squeezing (FDS), while Virgo integrated and commissioned the FDS system without actively operating it during the science run. By employing a 300-meterlong detuned Filter Cavity (FC), the squeezing ellipse is rotated, allowing phase squeezing at high frequencies to reduce and amplitude squeezing at low frequencies to mitigate RPN, ultimately refining detection capabilities across the frequency spectrum. This doctoral thesis focuses on a promising alternative technique for future GW detectors, that achieves broadband QN reduction by exploiting Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) quantum entanglement. This approach involves injecting two entangled, squeezed beams at different frequencies into the dark port of the interferometer, enabling it to act as both a FC and a GW detector. To experimentally investigate these techniques, the suspended Interferometer for Ponderomotive Squeezing (SIPS) platform adopts a large-scale GW detector layout featuring a Michelson configuration with Fabry-Perot (FP) arm cavities. To guarantee the extreme optical alignment necessary for quantum noise mitigation, a high-precision, real-time local control system was developed for the SIPS main optics. Using a dummy mirror suspended in a double-pendulum configuration with monolithic fibers, a custom real-time signal processing and feedback control architecture was developed. This subsystem utilizes a PXI hardware framework and position-sensitive detectors (Power Spectral Densitys (PSDs)) implemented in LabVIEW to actively damp the mechanical resonances of the suspensions. Extending these core activities toward future infrastructures, this work directly contributed to the realization and commissioning of the new PNRR ETIC-GALILEO quantum optics cleanroom facility in Genoa for the Einstein Telescope (ET). Within this infrastructure, preliminary optical studies were initiated for Einstein Telescope Low Frequency (ET-LF) low-loss Faraday isolators operating at 1550 nm. Concurrently, numerical simulations were performed using Finesse3 to model and investigate candidate excess noise sources currently limiting the sensitivity of Advanced Virgo Plus
Free-running single photon detectors at telecom wavelengths are attractive for many tasks in quantum optics. However, until recently, the convenient and compact InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes did not operate with satisfactory performance in this regime due to high dark count rates and afterpulsing effects. Recent development of negative feedback avalanche diodes (NFADs) enabled very fast passive quenching of the avalanche current, effectively reducing the afterpulse probability and subsequently allowing free-running operation. Here, we present analysis of NFAD operation at low temperatures, down to 163 K, which reveals a significant reduction of the dark count rate. We succeeded in developing a compact single photon detection system with a dark count rate of ~1 cps at 10% detection efficiency. To ensure that the NFAD is in a well-defined initial condition during the characterization of the detection efficiency and afterpulsing, we use a recently developed FPGA based test procedure suitable for free-running detectors. To demonstrate the performance of the detector in a real-world application we integrate it into a 1.25 GHz clocked quantum key distribution system. An optimization of the detector temperature allowed secret key distribution in the presence of more than 30 dB of loss in the quantum channel.