High Accuracy Calibration of Photon-Counting Detectors

Published

October 25, 2006

Author(s)

Sergey V. Polyakov, Michael Ware, Alan L. Migdall

Abstract

We discuss a practical implementation of a photon-counting detector calibration using correlated photon pairs produced by parametric down-conversion. In this calibration scheme, the detection of a first photon triggers the measurement sequence aimed at detection of a second photon by a detector under test (DUT). We also describe measurements of radiant power with a photon counting detector, which is important for implementation of a conventional calibration technique based on detector substitution. In the experiment, we obtain a time-delay histogram of DUT detection events consisting of a correlated signal and a background. We present a method for separating the correlated signal from the background signal that appropriately handles complex properties of typical avalanche photo diode (APD) detectors. Also discussed are measurements of various APD properties, including countrate-dependent afterpulsing, delayed (by up to 10 ns) electronic detections and deadtime effects. We show that understanding of these is essential to perform an accurate calibration.

Proceedings Title

Optics East Conference| 2006| SPIE

Conference Dates

September 29-October 3, 2006

Conference Title

SPIE Proceedings

Pub Type

Conferences

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1117/12.685248

Keywords

afterpulsing, avalanche photodiode, calibration, correlated photons, deadtime, down-conversion, single photon detector

Citation

Polyakov, S. , Ware, M. and Migdall, A. (2006), High Accuracy Calibration of Photon-Counting Detectors, Optics East Conference| 2006| SPIE, [online], https://doi.org/10.1117/12.685248 (Accessed November 4, 2025)