SILICON AVALANCHE PHOTODIODES AS DETECTORS FOR PHOTON-CORRELATION EXPERIMENTS

In view of time correlated photon-counting experiments using wavelengt hs at the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum, we developed a simp le electronic circuit for periodical gated quenching of silicon avalan che photodiodes. We compare the performance of this device with commer cially available passive and active quenching modules and a reference photomultiplier. The detection system's nonlinearities, i.e., dead tim e and afterpulsing, lead to direct and indirect distortions of photoco unt correlation functions. We characterize this nonlinear behavior by measuring intensity auto- and cross-correlation functions and supply n onlinearity parameters for each of the four detection systems. In addi tion, transfer functions are given which allow an estimate for the hig hest count rates accessible for each detection system. (C) 1998 Americ an Institute of Physics. [S0034-6748(98)01810-3].