Ultrashort dead time of photon-counting InGaAs avalanche photodiodes

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-speed InGaAs avalanche photodiode with an ultrashort dead time of 1.93 ns, enabling rapid detection rates suitable for quantum communication and computing applications.

Contribution

It demonstrates a photon-counting InGaAs avalanche photodiode with the shortest dead time reported, achieving a detection rate of nearly 500 MHz.

Findings

Detection dead time of 1.93 ns achieved

Maximum detection rate of 497 MHz measured

Effective for high-speed quantum applications

Abstract

We report a 1.036 GHz gated Geiger mode InGaAs avalanche photodiode with a detection dead time of just 1.93 ns. This is demonstrated by full recovery of the detection efficiency two gate cycles after a detection event, as well as a measured maximum detection rate of 497 MHz. As an application, we measure the second order correlation function $g^{(2)}$ of the emission from a diode laser with a single detector which works reliably at high speed owing to the extremely short dead time of the detector. The device is ideal for high bit rate fiber wavelength quantum key distribution and photonic quantum computing.