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International Conference on Correlation Optics

Amplification pulse signals a single-photon detector based on an avalanche photodiode

Roman Halyts, Петро Шпатар, Yurii Yaremchuk

Published Jan 5, 2024• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The technology of quantum cryptography, based on the quantum properties of light, allows a random sequence of bits to be transmitted over an unprotected communication channel in such a way that an attacker's interference in the transmission process creates additional noise in the channel and is detected by legitimate users. One of the important elements of a quantum system is a single-photon detector. The closest to solving this problem is a device for recording single photons using avalanche photodiodes (APD) [1 - 6]. In this work, a scheme for amplifying current pulses flowing through a single-photon detector is proposed, using a charge-sensitive amplifier Amptek A250. The noise characteristics of the Amptek A250 amplifier are such that its contribution to detector noise is negligible. After amplification, the pulses are fed to the inputs of the comparators. The amplitude discrimination threshold of the first is selected above the level of the amplifier's own noise. The amplitude discrimination threshold of the second comparator is chosen so that the speed of pulse counting at the output of the first comparator is n times greater than at the output of the second comparator. From the outputs of the comparators, pulses are fed to the input of the microcontroller. When the microcontroller calculates a given number of N pulses, a corresponding signal for the DAC is formed at its output, which converts the digital signal into a control voltage for the power source of the avalanche photodiode. The developed device allows to increase the quantum efficiency of registration up to 48%.

DOI
10.1117/12.3010049

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The technology of quantum cryptography, based on the quantum properties of light, allows a random sequence of bits to be transmitted over an unprotected communication channel in such a way that an attacker's interference in the transmission process creates additional noise in the channel and is detected by legitimate users. One of the important elements of a quantum system is a single-photon detector. The closest to solving this problem is a device for recording single photons using avalanche photodiodes (APD) [1 - 6]. In this work, a scheme for amplifying current pulses flowing through a single-photon detector is proposed, using a charge-sensitive amplifier Amptek A250. The noise characteristics of the Amptek A250 amplifier are such that its contribution to detector noise is negligible. After amplification, the pulses are fed to the inputs of the comparators. The amplitude discrimination threshold of the first is selected above the level of the amplifier's own noise. The amplitude discrimination threshold of the second comparator is chosen so that the speed of pulse counting at the output of the first comparator is n times greater than at the output of the second comparator. From the outputs of the comparators, pulses are fed to the input of the microcontroller. When the microcontroller calculates a given number of N pulses, a corresponding signal for the DAC is formed at its output, which converts the digital signal into a control voltage for the power source of the avalanche photodiode. The developed device allows to increase the quantum efficiency of registration up to 48%.
The technology of quantum cryptography, based on the quantum properties of light, allows a random sequence of bits to be transmitted over an unprotected communication channel in such a way that an intruder's interference in the transmission process generates additional noise in the channel and is detected by legitimate users. One of the important elements of the quantum key distribution system is a single photon detector. In this work proposed quantum cryptographic system that generates only an orthogonal basis (vertical and horizontal) has one semiconductor diode laser used to generate information and synchronization photons and functional diagram of the device for registration of single photons. The developed device allows increasing the quantum efficiency of registration up to 45%.
Modeling and design of a single photon detector and its various characteristics are presented. It is a type of avalanche photo diode (APD) designed to suit the requirements of a Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) detection system. The device is modeled to operate in a gated mode at liquid nitrogen temperature for minimum noise and maximum gain. Different types of APDs are compared for best performance. The APD is part of an optical communication link, which is a private channel to transmit the key signal. The encrypted message is sent via a public channel. The optical link operates at a wavelength of 1.55μm. The design is based on InGaAs with a quantum efficiency of more than 75% and a multiplication factor of 1000. The calculated dark current is below 10-12A with an overall signal to noise ratio better than 18 dB. The device sensitivity is better than -40 dBm, which is more than an order of magnitude higher than the dark current, corresponding to a detection sensitivity of two photons in pico-second pulses.
In order to improve the sensitivity of single-photon detection systems,InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode(InGaAs/InP APD) is used in the design of single photon detector of quantum communication.Single photon detector bias generation circuit in gate pulse mode,single-photon signal amplification circuit,single photon signal detection circuit and temperature control module were realized.By selecting high-precision OP37 preamplifier and precision comparator AD8561,quantum efficiency was increased to 18.3%,dark count was controlled within 4.1 × 10-6/ns.
A single-photon detection system with laser of 1310nm wavelength as light source is designed. Using InGaAs Avalanche Photodiode (InGaAs-APD) as single-photon detection device for quantum cryptography communication, the bias-voltage formation, low-temperature control and single-photon signal detection are comprehensively considered. The photon gate formed by pulse superimposed on DC level is equivalently performed by monostable circuit in pulse generator. Detection sensitivity of the system is improved by using a trans-impedance pre-amplifier and a precision comparator. The detection experiments in initial stage show that the waveform of -93dBm light signal can be observed by the detection system.
In our experiment, two InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes (APD) were used in the quantum key distribution (QKD) system for single-photon detection at telecom communication wavelength (1310/1550 nm). By using properly designed passive-quenching circuit, the photo-detection efficiency of the APD could reach 10% at 1550 nm. In order to decrease the dark count rate efficiently, we designed a coincident counting circuits for single-photon detection. Before the APD signals were sent to the signal processing circuit, the avalanche signals were amplified and shaped into the TTL pulses. In order to obtain an accurate and efficient data acquisition and to transfer synchronically several signals such as the TTL signals and pulses from Random generators, we designed a signal processing circuit with the parallel port whose speed limitation is about 100Kb/s. In our experiments of single-photon interference and quantum cryptography, the electronic designs presented us satisfactory performance and results. To achieve much higher speed for the data acquisition, we also employed the Universal Serial Bus System (USB2.0) to interface our single-photon avalanche detectors and random generators used in our QKD system, which was believed to improve the performance of QKD such as the key distribution speed.
Because of low power consumption and small footprint, avalanche photodiodes (APD) have been commonly applied to photon detection. Recently, high speed quantum communication has been demonstrated for high bit-rate quantum key distribution. For the high speed quantum communication, photon detectors should operate at GHz-clock frequencies. We propose balanced detection circuits for GHz-clock operation of InGaAs-APD photon detectors. The balanced single photon detector operates with sinusoidal wave gating. The sinusoidal wave appearing in the output is removed by the subtraction from APD signal without sharp band-elimination filters. Omission of the sharp filters removes the constraint on the operating frequency of the single photon detector. We present two designs, one works with two identical APDs, the other with one APD and a low-pass filter. The sinusoidal gating enables to eliminate the gating noise even with the simple configuration of the latter design. We demonstrated the balanced single photon detector operating with 1.020GHz clock at 233 K, 193 K, and 186.5 K. The dark count probability was 4.0 x 10-4 counts/pulse with the quantum efficiency of 10% at 233K, and 1.6 x 10-4 counts/pulse at 186.5 K. These results were obtained with easily available APDs (NR8300FP-C.C, RENESASS) originally developed for optical time-domain reflectmeters.