Repeated radiation damage and thermal annealing of avalanche photodiodes

EPJ Quantum Technology - Tập 8 - Trang 1-12 - 2021
Ian DSouza1,2, Jean-Philippe Bourgoin1,2,3, Brendon L. Higgins1,2, Jin Gyu Lim1,4, Ramy Tannous1,2, Sascha Agne1,2, Brian Moffat1, Vadim Makarov5,6,7,2, Thomas Jennewein1,2
1Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
2Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
3Aegis Quantum, Waterloo, Canada
4Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada
5Russian Quantum Center, Moscow, Russia
6Shanghai Branch, National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale and CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
7NTI Center for Quantum Communications, National University of Science and Technology MISiS, Moscow, Russia

Tóm tắt

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are well-suited for single-photon detection on quantum communication satellites as they are a mature technology with high detection efficiency without requiring cryogenic cooling. They are, however, prone to significantly increased thermal noise caused by in-orbit radiation damage. Previous work demonstrated that a one-time application of thermal annealing reduces radiation-damage-induced APD thermal noise. Here we examine the effect of cyclical proton irradiation and thermal annealing. We use an accelerated testing environment which emulates a realistic two-year operating profile of a satellite in low-Earth-orbit. We show that repeated thermal annealing is effective at maintaining thermal noise of silicon APDs within a range suitable for quantum key distribution throughout the nominal mission life, and beyond. We examine two strategies—annealing at a fixed period of time, and annealing only when the thermal noise exceeds a pre-defined limit. We find both strategies exhibit similar thermal noise at end-of-life, with a slight overall advantage to annealing conditionally. We also observe that afterpulsing probability of the detector increases with cumulative proton irradiation. This knowledge helps guide design and tasking decisions for future space-borne quantum communication applications.

Tài liệu tham khảo

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EPJ Quantum Technology

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1-12

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