Fast data-driven spectrometer with direct measurement of time and frequency for multiple single photons

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2304.11999
• Publication Date: 2025-02-26
• Authors: Jakub Jirsa; Sergei Kulkov; Raphael A. Abrahao; Jesse Crawford; Aaron Mueninghoff; Ermanno Bernasconi; Claudio Bruschini; Samuel Burri; Stephen Vintskevich; Michal Marcisovsky; Edoardo Charbon; Andrei Nomerotski
• Keywords: Quantum Physics; Physics - Instrumentation and Detectors; FOS: Physical sciences; Instrumentation and Detectors (physics.ins-det); Quantum Physics (quant-ph)

We present a single-photon-sensitive spectrometer based on a linear array of 512 single-photon avalanche diode detectors with 0.04 nm spectral and 40 ps temporal resolutions. We employ a fast data-driven operation that allows direct measurement of time and frequency for simultaneous single photons, time- and frequency-stamping each single-photon detection. Our results combine excellent temporal and spectral resolution. This work opens numerous applications in quantum photonics, especially when both spectral and temporal properties of single photons can be exploited.