Single-Photon Detection Timing Jitter in a Visible Light Photon Counter
B. Baek, K.S. McKay, M.J. Stevens, Jungsang Kim, H.H. Hogue, Sae Woo Nam · IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics · 2010
Visible light photon counters (VLPCs) offer many attractive features as photon detectors, such as high quantum efficiency and photon number resolution. We report measurements of the single-photon timing jitter in a VLPC, a critical performance factor in a time-correlated single-photon counting measurement, in a fiber-coupled closed-cycle cryocooler. The measured timing jitter is 240 ps full-width-at-half-maximum at a wavelength of 550 nm, with a dark count rate of 25×103counts per second. The timing jitter increases modestly at longer wavelengths to 300 ps at 1000 nm, and increases substantially at lower bias voltages as the quantum efficiency is reduced.