Liu Junliang, Xu Yining, Li Yongfu, Liu Zhaojun, Zhao Xian
Opt Express. 2021 Mar 29;29(7):10150-10161. doi: 10.1364/OE.420368.
InGaAs/InP-based negative-feedback avalanche diodes (NFADs) for 1550 nm single-photon detection with easy-to-use and low-afterpulsing features have attracted many researchers on lidar and quantum optics. Here we present a fast active-quenching circuit specifically designed to exploit the performance of a multi-mode fiber coupled NFAD for free-running operation by a further suppression on afterpulsing effects. The quenching and recovery processes of the device were characterized using electroluminescent method and a novel dual-pulse method, respectively. Results show that the proposed circuit was capable of reducing the time required for quenching and recovery process of the NFAD by approximately 20 ns, and contributed to a reduction in the number of avalanche carriers by up to 30%. As a result, the total afterpulse probability (TAP) of the NFAD with active quenching was reduced by up to 70% compared with the condition without active quenching, and by approximately 90% compared with a standard InGaAs SPAD at the photon detection efficiency (PDE) of 20%. The TAP of the proposed detector was lower than 11% when the dead time was longer than 200 ns, 600 ns, and 2 μs at the PDE of 10%, 15%, and 25%, respectively, and the usable dead time was down to 80 ns with a TAP of 20.4% at the PDE of 10%, 1550 nm, 223 K, where the DCR was as low as 918 Hz. The low-afterpulsing, low-dead-time, low-DCR features of this compact detector makes it especially suitable for use in lidar applications.
基于InGaAs/InP的具有易于使用和低后脉冲特性的用于1550nm单光子探测的负反馈雪崩二极管（NFAD）吸引了许多激光雷达和量子光学领域的研究人员。在此，我们展示了一种快速有源猝灭电路，该电路经过专门设计，通过进一步抑制后脉冲效应来利用多模光纤耦合NFAD在自由运行模式下的性能。分别使用电致发光方法和一种新颖的双脉冲方法对该器件的猝灭和恢复过程进行了表征。结果表明，所提出的电路能够将NFAD的猝灭和恢复过程所需时间减少约20ns，并使雪崩载流子数量减少多达30%。因此，与无有源猝灭的情况相比，有源猝灭的NFAD的总后脉冲概率（TAP）降低了多达70%，与光子探测效率（PDE）为20%时的标准InGaAs单光子雪崩二极管（SPAD）相比降低了约90%。在所提出的探测器中，当死区时间分别在PDE为10%、15%和25%时大于200ns、600ns和2μs时，TAP低于11%，在PDE为10%、1550nm、223K时，可用死区时间低至80ns，TAP为20.4%，其中暗计数率（DCR）低至918Hz。这种紧凑型探测器的低后脉冲、低死区时间、低DCR特性使其特别适用于激光雷达应用。
