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Statistical Analysis of Dark Counts in Superconducting Nanowire Single Photon Detectors

In this paper we perform a statistical analysis of dark counts in superconducting nanowire single photon detectors (SNSPDs) with the end goal of creating a quantum random number generator (QRNG) using these dark counts. We confirm that dark counts are Poissonian for low bias currents and that no afterpulsing is present. However, we also show that an increase in bias current causes the dark counts to violate the independence assumption. For the non-Poissonian dark counts we identify three seemingly similar effects and confirm that: (i) a single event is at times regarded as two by the flat-threshold discriminator in the time-tagging device; (ii) a reflection in the readout circuit incites a second detection event shortly after the arrival of a first one, creating a conditionality between dark counts; (iii) a damped oscillation in the effective bias current immediately after a detection event shows itself in the inter-arrival time probability distribution. Finally, we present and evaluate a method for generating random numbers using the Poissonian dark counts as an entropy source with promising results.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:kth-315170
Date January 2022
CreatorsCakste, Anton, Andrae, Martin
PublisherKTH, Fysik
Source SetsDiVA Archive at Upsalla University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeStudent thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text
Formatapplication/pdf
Rightsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
RelationTRITA-SCI-GRU ; 2022:077

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