A novel active quenching circuit for single photon detection with Geiger mode avalanche photodiodes

摘要

In this paper we present a novel construction of an active quenching circuitintended for single photon detection. For purpose of evaluation, we havecombined this circuit with a standard avalanche photodiode C30902S to form asingle photon detector. A series of measurements, presented here, show thatthis single photon detector has a dead time of less than 40ns, maximum randomcounting frequency of over 14MHz, low after pulsing, detection efficiency ofover 20% and a good noise performance. This simple and robust active quenchingcircuit can be built from of-the-shelf electronic components and needs nocomplicated adjustments.