Design and performance study of actively holding-off GHz-gated InGaAs/InP SPADs

Published

May 13, 2019

Author(s)

Alessandro Restelli, Joshua C. Bienfang, Alan L. Migdall

Abstract

High-speed periodic gating of InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) has allowed these detectors to operate at count rates above $10^8$ per second with low-afterpulsing. However, a drawback of high-speed periodic gating is that bias gates are applied continuously, regardless of whether an avalanche has occurred or not. This is disadvantageous because gates immediately following an avalanche have elevated afterpulse probabilities. The additional charge from these secondary events contributes to the overall afterpulse probability. We investigate this phenomenon in a proof-of-principle experiment in which the series of bias gates is briefly interrupted after an avalanche, and we measure the resulting impact on the afterpulse probability. We observe a significant reduction in afterpulsing when such a bias- gate hold-off is applied to an InGaAs/InP SPAD gated at 1.25 GHz; when one bias gate is omitted after and avalanche the per-gate afterpulse probability is reduced by more than $40~\%$. These results indicate that afterpulsing noise at high count rates can be further reduced in high- speed-gated SPADs.

Proceedings Title

Advanced Photon Counting Techniques XIII; Proc. SPIE Vol. 10978

Conference Dates

April 17-18, 2019

Conference Location

Baltimore, MD

Conference Title

Advanced Photon Counting Techniques XIII

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

Single-photon detector, single-photon avalanche diode, quantum communication, photon detection, afterpulsing

Citation

Restelli, A. , Bienfang, J. and Migdall, A. (2019), Design and performance study of actively holding-off GHz-gated InGaAs/InP SPADs, Advanced Photon Counting Techniques XIII; Proc. SPIE Vol. 10978, Baltimore, MD (Accessed October 17, 2025)