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An avalanche‐photodiode-based photon-number-resolving detector

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 425–428 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Avalanche photodiodes are widely used as practical detectors of single photons1. Although conventional devices respond to one or more photons, they cannot resolve the number of photons in the incident pulse or in a short time interval. However, photon-number-resolving detectors are urgently needed for applications in quantum computing2,3,4, communications5 and interferometry6, as well as for extending the applicability of quantum detection generally. Here we show that, contrary to current belief3,4, avalanche photodiodes are capable of detecting photon number, using a technique to measure very weak avalanches at the early stage of their development. Under such conditions the output signal from the avalanche photodiode is proportional to the number of photons in the incident pulse. As a compact, mass-manufactured device, operating without cryogens and at telecom wavelengths, it offers a practical solution for photon number detection.

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Figure 1: Comparison of conventional gated Geiger mode with the new self-differencing mode of APD operation.
Figure 2: Distribution of the peak output signal generated by the self-differencing APD.
Figure 3: Comparison of output signals recorded for self-differencing and conventional modes.
Figure 4: Noise factor analysis.

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  1. Toshiba Research Europe Ltd, 208 Cambridge Science Park, Cambridge, CB4 0GZ, UK

    B. E. Kardynał, Z. L. Yuan & A. J. Shields

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  1. B. E. Kardynał
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  2. Z. L. Yuan
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  3. A. J. Shields
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Correspondence to A. J. Shields.

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Kardynał, B., Yuan, Z. & Shields, A. An avalanche‐photodiode-based photon-number-resolving detector. Nature Photon 2, 425–428 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.101

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