Ultra-low photon flux data links using SiPM-based UV-C single-photon detection

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Liu, Feng and Farmer, James and Faulkner, Grahame and McKendry, Jonathan and Xie, Enyuan and Zheng, Qianfang and Wang, Zhaoming and Wang, Jianming and Hill, Jordan and Herrnsdorf, Johannes and Dawson, Martin and O'Brien, Dominic (2025) Ultra-low photon flux data links using SiPM-based UV-C single-photon detection. Laser and Photonics Reviews. ISSN 1863-8880 (In Press)

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Abstract

Low photon flux optical data links are difficult to operate under normal daylight conditions as the interference from daylight will overwhelm any signal. However, in the UV-C region of the spectrum, light from the sun is highly attenuated, offering the possibility of link operation. In this paper, we report ultra-low photon flux links using a Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) based single-photon detector (SPD) that operates at 275nm. Using a 276 nm UV-C micro-LED, a 1 megabaud per second (MB/s) symbol rate. 7 128-PPM link was demonstrated with 7.7 transmitted photons per bit, corresponding to 0.97 detected photon per bit. A maximum bit rate of 120 Mbit/s was achieved in 8-PPM links with transmitted power of 1.7 nW. In addition, a 500 MHz single-photon link was established with a BER of 4.32 % and a 10 measured bit rate of 2.12 Mbit/s, showing the potential for QKD systems operating at the UV-C region.

ORCID iDs

Liu, Feng, Farmer, James, Faulkner, Grahame, McKendry, Jonathan ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6379-3955, Xie, Enyuan ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7776-8091, Zheng, Qianfang, Wang, Zhaoming, Wang, Jianming, Hill, Jordan, Herrnsdorf, Johannes ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3856-5782, Dawson, Martin ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6639-2989 and O'Brien, Dominic;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)