Single-photon counting at 950–1300 nm: using InGaAsP photocathode–GaAs avalanche diode hybrid photomultiplier tubes
Single-photon counting at 950–1300 nm: using InGaAsP photocathode–GaAs avalanche diode hybrid photomultiplier tubes
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DOI：
10.1080/09500340802364352
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发表时间：
2009-01
影响因子：
1.3
通讯作者：
Xiaoli Sun;M. Krainak;W. Hasselbrack;R. A. La Rue;Derek F. Sykora
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Xiaoli Sun;M. Krainak;W. Hasselbrack;R. A. La Rue;Derek F. Sykora
本文描述了一种混合光电倍增管(HPMT)近红外(950-1300 nm)探测器的单光子计数性能。与传统的光电倍增管相比，这些器件具有较低的光电子倍增增益，但提供了更大的线性动态范围和电带宽。通过使用低噪声前置放大器，他们可以探测到量子效率(QE)大于20%、暗噪声计数率相当低的单光子。位于阳极处的雪崩二极管工作在低增益模拟模式下，并且没有后脉冲。因此，这些HPMT可以在没有选通的情况下以高计数速率连续检测单个光子。相对较大的光电阴极有源区(直径1 mm)也对许多应用具有吸引力，包括激光测高、测距和大气中的自由空间通信。在−为22°C，暗计数速率为60,000/秒的1064 nm波长下，我们测量了25%的光电阴极量子效率和几乎相同的单光子探测效率，单光子探测的输出脉冲宽度约为0.8 ns。最大计数速率超过每秒1亿次，只受电子设备速度的限制。测得HPMT输出的均方根时序抖动约为0.5 ns。抖动主要由光电阴极内的电子扩散时间决定，可以通过减小光电阴极厚度来改善抖动，但在光电阴极QE中损失不大。我们对几种HPMT进行了评估，并给出了详细的测量结果。
We describe the single-photon counting performance of a hybrid photomultiplier tube (HPMT) near-infrared (950–1300 nm) detector with a transfered electron InGaAsP photocathode and a GaAs Schottky avalanche diode anode. These devices have a lower photoelectron multiplication gain than conventional photomultiplier tubes, but offer a greater linear dynamic range and electrical bandwidth. With the use of a low-noise preamplifier, they can detect single photons with a greater than 20% quantum efficiency (QE) and a reasonably low dark-noise count rate. The avalanche diode at the anode operates in a low gain analog mode and has no afterpulsing. As a result, these HPMTs can detect single photons continuously at high count rates without gating. The relatively large photocathode active area (1 mm diameter) is also attractive to many applications including laser altimetry, ranging, and free-space communications through the atmosphere. We measured 25% photocathode QE and nearly the same single-photon detection efficiency at 1064 nm wavelength with a dark count rate of 60,000 per second at −22°C. The output pulse width in response to single-photon detection is about 0.8 ns. The maximum count rate exceeded 100 million counts per second and was limited only by the speed of the electronics. The rms timing jitter of the HPMT output was measured to be about 0.5 ns. The jitter is dominated by the electron diffusion time within the photocathode and can be improved by reducing the photocathode thickness at a small loss in photocathode QE. We evaluated several of these HPMTs and detailed measurement results are reported in this paper.