We demonstrate an ultralow-noise single-photon detection system based on a sensitive photomultiplier tube（PMT） with precise temperature control, which can capture fast single photons with intervals around 10 ns.By i...We demonstrate an ultralow-noise single-photon detection system based on a sensitive photomultiplier tube（PMT） with precise temperature control, which can capture fast single photons with intervals around 10 ns.By improvement of the electromagnetic shielding and introduction of the self-differencing method, the dark counts（DCs） are cut down to ~1%. We further develop an ultra-stable PMT cooling subsystem and observe that the DC goes down by a factor of 3.9 each time the temperature drops 10°C. At -20°C it is reduced 400 times with respect to the room temperature（25°C）, that is, it becomes only 2 counts per second, which is on par with the superconducting nanowire detectors. Meanwhile, despite a 50% loss, the detection efficiency is still 13%. Our detector is available for ultra-precise single-photon detection in environments with strong electromagnetic disturbances.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.11574026 and 11274037)the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University,MOE of China(No.NCET-12-0765)the Foundation for the Author of National Excellent Doctoral Dissertation,China(No.201236)
文摘We demonstrate an ultralow-noise single-photon detection system based on a sensitive photomultiplier tube（PMT） with precise temperature control, which can capture fast single photons with intervals around 10 ns.By improvement of the electromagnetic shielding and introduction of the self-differencing method, the dark counts（DCs） are cut down to ~1%. We further develop an ultra-stable PMT cooling subsystem and observe that the DC goes down by a factor of 3.9 each time the temperature drops 10°C. At -20°C it is reduced 400 times with respect to the room temperature（25°C）, that is, it becomes only 2 counts per second, which is on par with the superconducting nanowire detectors. Meanwhile, despite a 50% loss, the detection efficiency is still 13%. Our detector is available for ultra-precise single-photon detection in environments with strong electromagnetic disturbances.
