Characterization of single-photon detectors using a source of photon pairs

摘要

Operational parameters of a single-photon detector are determined with a source of photon pairs. At a fixed trigger, a dark count probability and a series of count probabilities at different optical powers are determined. A particular optical power is selected by adjusting the optical power of the source of photon pairs. The dark count probability and the count probabilities are determined for different trigger rates. The operational parameters include efficiency, afterpulsing constant, and detrap time. The operational parameters are computed by fitting the computed dark count probabilities and count probabilities to a user-defined relationship.