The Impact of Long Dead Time on the Photocount Distribution of SPAD Receivers

Elham Sarbazi, Majid Safari, Harald Haas

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

A single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) receiver can provide a significantly improved detection sensitivity over conventional photodiodes. However, upon detecting a photon, the SPAD receiver is unable to respond to subsequent incident photons for a certain period of time called dead time. When the SPAD receiver is counting in consecutive intervals and its dead time is relatively long compared to the counting interval, the dead time in one interval may overlap the next intervals, causing counting losses in those intervals. In this paper, the photocount statistics of an active quenching SPAD receiver with a long dead time is investigated. While detecting in consecutive time intervals, the SPAD receiver can be modeled as a Markov chain. It is shown that the SPAD experiences a transient period, before eventually reaching its steady state. The duration of the transient period increases with both the dead time and the signal photon rate. The bit error performance of the system with an on-off keying (OOK) modulated signal is also evaluated. Our results show that the SPAD's dead time significantly degrades the error performance of high data rate links.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2018 IEEE Global Communications Conference, GLOBECOM 2018 - Proceedings
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
ISBN (Electronic)9781538647271
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Feb 2019
Event2018 IEEE Global Communications Conference, GLOBECOM 2018 - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Duration: 9 Dec 201813 Dec 2018

Publication series

Name2018 IEEE Global Communications Conference, GLOBECOM 2018 - Proceedings

Conference

Conference2018 IEEE Global Communications Conference, GLOBECOM 2018
Country/TerritoryUnited Arab Emirates
CityAbu Dhabi
Period9/12/1813/12/18

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • active quenching
  • blocking probability
  • dead time
  • inter-symbol interference (ISI)
  • Markov process
  • Single photon avalanche diode (SPAD)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The Impact of Long Dead Time on the Photocount Distribution of SPAD Receivers'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this