Lin Jinhou, Sun Ying, Wu Wen, Huang Kun, Liang Yan, Yan Ming, Zeng Heping
Opt Express. 2022 Feb 28;30(5):7501-7510. doi: 10.1364/OE.451548.
Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) constitute a promising candidate for photon-number-resolving (PNR) detection via spatial multiplexing, which offer advantages like high integration and low cost. Up to date, there has been continuous endeavor in boosting the PNR performances, particularly on the resolved photon numbers and operation speed. Here, we demonstrate a GHz-gated SiPM in the Geiger mode, which allows to quench the photon-induced avalanche signal within 1 ns. Specifically, the capacitive response of the SiPM has been effectively suppressed by combining the low-pass filtering and self-differencing technique, which facilitates a high-fidelity extraction of the avalanche pulse with a reduced error rate. Consequently, high-speed PNR detection has been manifested in resolving up to 14 photons for laser pulses at a repetition rate of 40 MHz. The presented high-speed PNR detector may open up new possibilities to implement applications such as large-dynamic-range optical sensing, high-capacity optical communication, and multi-photon quantum optics.
硅光电倍增管（SiPM）是通过空间复用进行光子数分辨（PNR）检测的一个有前景的候选者，它具有高集成度和低成本等优点。到目前为止，人们一直在不断努力提高PNR性能，特别是在分辨光子数和操作速度方面。在此，我们展示了一种盖革模式下的GHz门控SiPM，它能够在1 ns内淬灭光子诱导的雪崩信号。具体而言，通过结合低通滤波和自差分技术，SiPM的电容响应得到了有效抑制，这有助于以降低的错误率高保真地提取雪崩脉冲。因此，在40 MHz的重复频率下，对于激光脉冲，高速PNR检测已表现出能够分辨多达14个光子。所展示的高速PNR探测器可能为实现诸如大动态范围光学传感、高容量光通信和多光子量子光学等应用开辟新的可能性。
