https://doi.org/10.1140/epjqt/s40507-017-0062-z
Research
Mitigating radiation damage of single photon detectors for space applications
1
Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
2
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1, Canada
3
Honeywell Aerospace (formerly COM DEV Ltd.), 303 Terry Fox Dr., Suite 100, Ottawa, ON, K2K 3J1, Canada
4
Magellan Aerospace, 3701 Carling Avenue, Ottawa, ON, K2H 8S2, Canada
5
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, N2L 3G1K2K 3J1, Canada
6
Quantum Information Science Program, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON, M5G 1Z8, Canada
* e-mail: anisimovaa@gmail.com
Received:
2
February
2017
Accepted:
9
May
2017
Published online:
26
May
2017
Single-photon detectors in space must retain useful performance characteristics despite being bombarded with sub-atomic particles. Mitigating the effects of this space radiation is vital to enabling new space applications which require high-fidelity single-photon detection. To this end, we conducted proton radiation tests of various models of avalanche photodiodes (APDs) and one model of photomultiplier tube potentially suitable for satellite-based quantum communications. The samples were irradiated with 106 MeV protons at doses approximately equivalent to lifetimes of 0.6 , 6, 12 and 24 months in a low-Earth polar orbit. Although most detection properties were preserved, including efficiency, timing jitter and afterpulsing probability, all APD samples demonstrated significant increases in dark count rate (DCR) due to radiation-induced damage, many orders of magnitude higher than the 200 counts per second (cps) required for ground-to-satellite quantum communications. We then successfully demonstrated the mitigation of this DCR degradation through the use of deep cooling, to as low as . This achieved DCR below the required 200 cps over the 24 months orbit duration. DCR was further reduced by thermal annealing at temperatures of +50 to
.
Key words: quantum communication / satellite / radiation test / single-photon detector
© The Author(s), 2017