Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:quant-ph/0311112 · Journal of Modern Optics

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

Donald S. Bethune, W. P. Risk, Gary W. Pabst

Published Jan 1, 2004• 73 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

A commercial avalanche photodiode (APD) and the circuitry needed to operate it as a single-photon detector (SPD) have been integrated onto a single PC board (PCB). At temperatures accessible with Peltier coolers (∼200–240 K), 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.

DOI
10.1080/09500340408235278

Related papers

Single Photon Detector Comparison in a Quantum Key Distribution Link Testbed

Jonathan L. Habif, David Pearson, Robert H. Hadfield +3 more

We provide a direct comparison between the InGaAs avalanche photodiode (APD) and the NbN superconducting single photon detector (SSPD) for applications in fiber-based quantum cryptography. The quantum efficiency and dark count rate were measured for each detector, and used to calculate the quantum bit error rate (QBER) and shared key rate for a QKD link. The results indicate that, despite low quantum efficiency, the speed of the SSPD makes it a superior detector for quantum information applications. Finally, we present results of an initial integration of an SSPD into a receiver node of the DARPA quantum network to perform quantum key distribution. Encoding quantum information on single photons has enabled the realization of a number of unique communication schemes such as the implementation of the BB84 protocol for quantum key distribution 1 and quantum dense coding. 2 Furthermore, the implementation of these schemes using photons at telecommunication wavelengths has permitted their extension to fiber optic networks, 3,4 drastically increasing the practicality of quantum information processing. To date, the state of the art in commercially available single photon detection at telecommunication wavelengths (1550 nm) has been the thermo-electrically cooled InGaAs avalanche photodiode (APD). The cooled InGaAs APD is generally operated at T = -60°C in the reverse-biased Geiger mode. Though these detectors have been successfully implemented in operating QKD links in optical fiber, the InGaAs APD suffers from afterpulsing effects that limit the key exchange rates. New SPD (single photon detector) technologies based on superconducting materials are emerging that hold tremendous promise for drastically increasing the photon counting rate and eliminating dark noise.57 The SSPD consists of a NbN thin film (t ∼ 5 nm) patterned into a narrow (w ∼ 100 nm) microstrip meander that is ∼ 500μm in length. The detector is cooled to T < 4K in a closed cycle refrigeration unit and a bias current I b is supplied to the device just below the superconducting critical current (I c ). When a photon is incident upon the microstrip superconductivity is broken in the region local to photon absorption and a normal state region is formed in the device. The current passing through the device causes a measurable voltage pulse in the detector that can be amplified and shaped to act as an input for traditional logic circuitry. Due to the unique electronic bandstructure in a superconducting material the intrinsic response time of the device is on the order of picoseconds, so that the repetition rate may be increased above 1 GHz 8 without being susceptible to afterpulsing effects that plague the InGaAs APD. 9 To make a direct comparison between the InGaAs APD and the SSPD both were placed in a SPD characterization testbed to measure quantum efficiency and dark count rate at a variety of bias conditions. The QBER for a QKD link is calculated from the measured parameters and then compared to requirements for a provably secure QKD link. Following detector characterization, one of the nodes of the DARPA Quantum Network operated by BBN Technologies 3 utilized an SSPD in the receiver to transmit key material. The demonstration provides an in situ comparison between the InGaAs APD, normally operated in the BBN link, and the SSPD.

Applied Physics Letters•Oct 25, 2006•0 citations

High-efficiency single photon detector combined with an ultra-small APD module and a self-training discriminator for high-speed quantum cryptosystems

Seigo Takahashi, Akio Tajima, Akihisa Tomita

A single-photon avalanche detector (SPAD) for high-speed quantum-key generation has successfully been developed. It has the highest photon detection repetition frequency and the lowest dark count rate in the world, as a board-mountable sub-system. The SPAD consists of an ultra-small dual-avalanche photodiode (APD) module and a novel discriminator. The APD module design is consistent with cooling capability and high-frequency characteristics. The new module has a 3 GHz bandwidth enabling 1 GHz gate-pulse repetition. The bandwidth is extended 15-fold relative to the most wideband peltier cooled APD module. The discriminator has a self-training mechanism to compensate charge pulse. Dark count rare of the SPAD is reduced 1/10th relative to the lowest dark count single photon detector. The SPAD allows 3.2-fold multiplying the quantum key generation rate in theoretical estimation.

arXiv:0712.4179•Dec 27, 2007•5 citations

The single-photon detection and data acquisition for the quantum key distribution system

Xiuliang Chen, Chunyuan Zhou, Guang Wu +2 more

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.

Frontiers in Optics•Jan 1, 2003•0 citations

Low temperature performance of free-running InGaAs/InP single-photon negative feedback avalanche diodes

Boris A. Korzh, Hugo Zbinden

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.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Jun 4, 2014•7 citations

A single-photon detector for high-speed telecom-band quantum communication applications

Chuang Liang, Kim Fook Lee, Paul L. Voss +5 more

We present the design and construction of a high-speed telecom-band (1.5 μm) single-photon counting system based on an InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode (APD) operating in the gated Geiger mode. The detector can be gated at high speeds (we examine its performance up to 25 MHz) to maximize the counting rate in long-distance, telecom-band, fiber-optic quantum communication applications. Narrow gate pulses (250 ps full width at half maximum) are used to reduce the dark-count and the after-pulse probability. In order to count the avalanche events, we employ a high-speed comparator to sample the unfiltered and unamplified avalanche photocurrent. The APD and all the associated electronics are integrated onto a printed circuit board with a computer interface. In addition, we cool the APD to -27°C to reduce the dark-count probability.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Aug 18, 2005•6 citations

High-speed bridge circuit for InGaAs avalanche photodiode single-photon detector

Hirofumi Hashimoto, Akihisa Tomita, Atsushi Okamoto

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.

Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Feb 19, 2014•2 citations
A commercial avalanche photodiode (APD) and the circuitry needed to operate it as a single-photon detector (SPD) have been integrated onto a single PC board (PCB). At temperatures accessible with Peltier coolers (∼200–240 K), 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.
We provide a direct comparison between the InGaAs avalanche photodiode (APD) and the NbN superconducting single photon detector (SSPD) for applications in fiber-based quantum cryptography. The quantum efficiency and dark count rate were measured for each detector, and used to calculate the quantum bit error rate (QBER) and shared key rate for a QKD link. The results indicate that, despite low quantum efficiency, the speed of the SSPD makes it a superior detector for quantum information applications. Finally, we present results of an initial integration of an SSPD into a receiver node of the DARPA quantum network to perform quantum key distribution. Encoding quantum information on single photons has enabled the realization of a number of unique communication schemes such as the implementation of the BB84 protocol for quantum key distribution 1 and quantum dense coding. 2 Furthermore, the implementation of these schemes using photons at telecommunication wavelengths has permitted their extension to fiber optic networks, 3,4 drastically increasing the practicality of quantum information processing. To date, the state of the art in commercially available single photon detection at telecommunication wavelengths (1550 nm) has been the thermo-electrically cooled InGaAs avalanche photodiode (APD). The cooled InGaAs APD is generally operated at T = -60°C in the reverse-biased Geiger mode. Though these detectors have been successfully implemented in operating QKD links in optical fiber, the InGaAs APD suffers from afterpulsing effects that limit the key exchange rates. New SPD (single photon detector) technologies based on superconducting materials are emerging that hold tremendous promise for drastically increasing the photon counting rate and eliminating dark noise.57 The SSPD consists of a NbN thin film (t ∼ 5 nm) patterned into a narrow (w ∼ 100 nm) microstrip meander that is ∼ 500μm in length. The detector is cooled to T < 4K in a closed cycle refrigeration unit and a bias current I b is supplied to the device just below the superconducting critical current (I c ). When a photon is incident upon the microstrip superconductivity is broken in the region local to photon absorption and a normal state region is formed in the device. The current passing through the device causes a measurable voltage pulse in the detector that can be amplified and shaped to act as an input for traditional logic circuitry. Due to the unique electronic bandstructure in a superconducting material the intrinsic response time of the device is on the order of picoseconds, so that the repetition rate may be increased above 1 GHz 8 without being susceptible to afterpulsing effects that plague the InGaAs APD. 9 To make a direct comparison between the InGaAs APD and the SSPD both were placed in a SPD characterization testbed to measure quantum efficiency and dark count rate at a variety of bias conditions. The QBER for a QKD link is calculated from the measured parameters and then compared to requirements for a provably secure QKD link. Following detector characterization, one of the nodes of the DARPA Quantum Network operated by BBN Technologies 3 utilized an SSPD in the receiver to transmit key material. The demonstration provides an in situ comparison between the InGaAs APD, normally operated in the BBN link, and the SSPD.
A single-photon avalanche detector (SPAD) for high-speed quantum-key generation has successfully been developed. It has the highest photon detection repetition frequency and the lowest dark count rate in the world, as a board-mountable sub-system. The SPAD consists of an ultra-small dual-avalanche photodiode (APD) module and a novel discriminator. The APD module design is consistent with cooling capability and high-frequency characteristics. The new module has a 3 GHz bandwidth enabling 1 GHz gate-pulse repetition. The bandwidth is extended 15-fold relative to the most wideband peltier cooled APD module. The discriminator has a self-training mechanism to compensate charge pulse. Dark count rare of the SPAD is reduced 1/10th relative to the lowest dark count single photon detector. The SPAD allows 3.2-fold multiplying the quantum key generation rate in theoretical estimation.
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.
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.
We present the design and construction of a high-speed telecom-band (1.5 μm) single-photon counting system based on an InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiode (APD) operating in the gated Geiger mode. The detector can be gated at high speeds (we examine its performance up to 25 MHz) to maximize the counting rate in long-distance, telecom-band, fiber-optic quantum communication applications. Narrow gate pulses (250 ps full width at half maximum) are used to reduce the dark-count and the after-pulse probability. In order to count the avalanche events, we employ a high-speed comparator to sample the unfiltered and unamplified avalanche photocurrent. The APD and all the associated electronics are integrated onto a printed circuit board with a computer interface. In addition, we cool the APD to -27°C to reduce the dark-count probability.
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.