Nanosecond single-photon timing with InGaAs/InP photodiodes

We demonstrate that separate absorption and multiplication InGaAs/InP avalanche photodiodes can work biased above the breakdown voltage and detect the arrival time of single photons with 1-ns resolution and a noise-equivalent power of 1 x 10(-14) W/Hz((1/2)) at 150 K. We investigated the performance of various samples, cooling the detectors from different temperatures down to 50 K. These devices are suitable for the detection of short optical pulses in the near-infrared range up to a 1.55-microm wavelength, for the characterization of optical communication components, and for luminescence and radiative decay measurements.