Reduced Deadtime and Higher Rate Photon-Counting Detection Using a Multiplexed Detector Array

Published

January 20, 2007

Author(s)

Stefania Castelletto, Ivo P. Degiovanni, V Schettini, Alan L. Migdall

Abstract

We present a scheme for a photon-counting detection system that can be operated at incident photon rates higher than otherwise possible by suppressing the effects of detector deadtime. The method uses an array of N detectors and a 1-by-N optical switch with a control circuit to direct input light to live detectors. Our calculations and models highlight the advantages of the technique. In particular, using this scheme, a group of N detectors provides an improvement in operation rate that can exceed the improvement that would be obtained by a single detector with deadtime reduced by 1/N, even if it were feasible to produce a single detector with such a large improvement in deadtime. We model the system for CW and pulsed light sources, both of which are important for quantum metrology and quantum key distribution applications.

Citation

Journal of Modern Optics

Volume

54

Issue

2-3

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

deadtime, detection, detector, detector array, photon, photon-counting detector, quantum computation, quantum information

Citation

Castelletto, S. , Degiovanni, I. , Schettini, V. and Migdall, A. (2007), Reduced Deadtime and Higher Rate Photon-Counting Detection Using a Multiplexed Detector Array, Journal of Modern Optics, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=840994 (Accessed October 27, 2025)