Potentialities of SiPMs in Quantum Optics: Is it Possible to use a Single Detector for Coincidence Measurements?

When photons impinge on a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) [1], they trigger an avalanche of electron-hole pairs, resulting in an electrical signal. With a certain statistical probability, multiple photons may impinge on the detector within a very short time frame, generating avalanches that produce an electrical signal with amplitude proportional to the number of photons, as shown in Figure 1a, which reports the oscilloscope traces generated at the output of a SiPM coupled with radiofrequency custom-designed front-end electronics. In this work, leveraging the avalanches amplitude differences of single- and simultaneous-photon events, we study the photon event statistics to validate their consistency with the Poisson distribution. This paves the way for coincidence measurements with a single detector, enabling less complex quantum optical systems.