Implementation of a Cost-Efficient Device for Wireless Photon Coincidence Detection

Abstract: State-of-the-art technology for pulse counter electronics offers an important range of commercial devices, but such systems are usually expensive due to the complex logic used for this task. The use of counting electronics in conjunction with photon counters can be used, for example, to perform experimental tests in Quantum Optics and Quantum Information Science. Here, we present the development and implementation of a low cost module for multiphoton coincidence statistics with detection windows of a few nanoseconds. The module consists of an array of logic gates, with a frequency operation of 250 MHz that corrects and amplifies the detectors signal. The device characterisation was done by means of detection of Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL) signals retrieved from a signal generator, and implemented in an optical setup. The detected output signals (TTL pulses) were analysed and stored in a computer by means of a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). Our module incorporates fundamental electronics that is currently used in the first experimental proof-of-principle tests in quantum information and molecular spectroscopy at CIBioFi.