Scalable multiplexed detector system for high-rate telecom-bandsingle-photon detection

Published

November 25, 2009

Author(s)

Sergey V. Polyakov, Alan L. Migdall, Giorgio Brida, Ivo P. Degiovanni, Fabrizio Piacentini, V Schettini

Abstract

We present a photon-counting detection system at telecom wavelengths that overcomes the difficulties of photon-counting at high rates. Our detection system uses active multiplexing, an array of N detectors, and a 1-by-N optical switch with a control circuit to direct input light to live detectors. We analyze typical bottlenecks in infrared single-photon detectors and optimize switching algorithms for better performance. We conclude that in addition to detection deadtime reduction, the switching algorithm for the multiplexed detectors array should reduce the so-called trigger deadtime, common to any gated detectors. This switching algorithm is shown to scale better than other multiplexed schemes with the number of detectors. Implementing the algorithm reduces overall deadtime by 5x when using just N=2 multiplexed detectors. Our experimental results show the advantage of our improved system as compared to passive multi-detector detection systems and previously reported multiplexed detector array based on a switching algorithm that addresses only detection deadtime and not gate deadtime.

Citation

Review of Scientific Instruments

Volume

80

Pub Type

Journals

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Keywords

Photon Counting, Detector, Down-Conversion, Correlated Photons, Statistical Methods, Multiplexing, Infrared

Citation

Polyakov, S. , Migdall, A. , Brida, G. , Degiovanni, I. , Piacentini, F. and Schettini, V. (2009), Scalable multiplexed detector system for high-rate telecom-bandsingle-photon detection, Review of Scientific Instruments, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=902508 (Accessed October 8, 2025)