International Conference on the Advancement of Silicon Photomultipliers

Single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) are currently the most used detectors for the single-photon detection in many quantum technologies, such as quantum communication, quantum key distribution, quantum biology, etc. [1, 2]. The success of such technologies greatly depends on the performance of the single-photon detector used. In the last decade, the performance of such SPAD detectors, e.g. quantum efficiency, dead time, dark counts, gating rate, etc., has been significantly improved due to the great advances in new avalanche quenching technologies and cooling systems [2, 4]. Basically, two types of SPAD detectors are nowadays commercially available: gated and free-running SPAD detectors [5, 6]. In both cases, the metrological characterization of their optical parameters is essentially required to fully guarantee the reliability of the quantum detection system. Therefore, the PTB, and other National Metrological Institutes (NMIs), are putting great efforts in developing novel measurement methods and calibration facilities, which allow the traceable characterization of the optical parameters of these detectors by using reference standards [7, 8]. In this conference, the detailed metrological characterization of Si- and InGaAs- SPAD detectors including the measurement setup, traceability and uncertainty analysis will be presented. Acknowledgment: This work has been supported by EMPIR-14IND05 “MIQC2” (the EMPIR initiative is co-funded by the EUH2020 and the EMPIR Participating States). [1] Robert H. Hadfield, “Single-photon detectors for optical quantum information applications”, Nature Photonics 3, 696–705 (2009) [2] Damien Stucki, et al., “Photon counting for quantum key distribution with peltier cooled InGaAs/InP APDs”, Journal of Modern Optics, 48, Issue 13, 1967-1981 (2001) [3] I. Prochazka, et. al., “Recent achievements in single photon detectors and their applications”, Journal of Modern Optic, 5, Issue 9-10 1289-1313 (2004) [4] Jun Zhang, et al., “Advances in InGaAs/InP single-photon detector systems for quantum communication”, Light: Science & Applications, (2015) [5] http://www.micro-photon-devices.com [6] https://www.idquantique.com [7] M. López, et al, “Detection efficiency calibration of single-photon silicon avalanche photodiodes traceable using double attenuator technique, Journal of Modern Optics 62, S21 – S27, 2015. [8] G. Porrovecchio, et al., “Comparison at the sub-100 fW optical power level of calibrating a single-photon detector using a high-sensitive, low-noise silicon photodiode and the double attenuator technique”, Metrologia 53, 1115-1122 (2016).