KEYWORDS: Picosecond phenomena, Time correlated single photon counting, Imaging systems, Analog to digital converters, Superconductors, Single photon avalanche diodes, Nanowires, Quantum systems, Quantum imaging
The constant advancements in single-photon technologies have led to the development of detectors with amazingly low jitter, that can play an important role in quantum measurements. A major limitation to their full exploitation in practical applications is represented by the timing electronics that should possess both low jitter characteristics, as well as good speed, linearity, and full-scale range (FSR) performance. In this paper, we propose a new TACbased single-channel timing system that features a state-of-the-art timing jitter of 4.5 ps FWHM, along with a peak-to-peak DNL of 1.5% LSB and a speed of 12 Mcps, over a wide full-scale range of 12.5 ns. Thanks to the promising results achieved in experiments with SNSPDs, we are extending the system to eight channels, to leverage converter parallelization to further reduce timing jitter below 2 ps.
In this work, we present the configurable Fast-Time-to-Amplitude Converter (FTAC), a versatile and completely integrated multichannel timing device constituted by 8 high-performance Time-to-Amplitude Converters (TACs) and a smart front-end logic. The designed converter can not only provide state-of-the-art performance in terms of conversion frequency (up to 100Mcps) and timing precision (down to 1.1ps rms, i.e. 2.6 ps Full Width at Half Maximum), but also a unique flexibility to the end user, who can select the most suitable configuration for its specific requirements. Above all, this chip gives the possibility of using the 8 channels separately, as a building block of a multichannel system, or combining the internal converters to reach picosecond precision, that could open the way to on-field exploitation of Super Conducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors (SNSPDs). The chip provides 11 different configurations among which select the best option in terms of a combination of parallel channels, speed and timing precision.
Timing measurements triggered by photo-detection are widely used in several different fields, such as Time-Correlated Single Photon Counting (TCSPC), Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) or Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems. All these applications have in common one essential element, i.e. the timing electronics, which aims at measuring the time interval between two instants and whose requirements strictly depend on the application-specific goal. In this work, we present a versatile and fully-integrated timing chip hosting eight high-performance Time-to-Amplitude Converters (TACs) integrated with a smart logic, providing to the end user a unique flexibility to select the most suitable configuration for its specific requirements.
Timing measurements with single photon detectors have acquired a prominent role in many applications, especially where they allow the recovery of faint light signals in harsh environments. We present a new fully-integrated multifunctional Time-to-Amplitude Converter (TAC), featuring 8 channels with a full scale range up to 100ns and a linearity better than 1% of the LSB peak to peak. The maximum speed of the converter is obtained in the Fast-TAC configuration (80MHz), while the precision of the converter can be maximized by exploiting multiple channels to perform the same conversion, achieving an overall jitter as low as 1.4ps.
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