A simple method to characterize the afterpulsing effect in single photon avalanche photodiode

A simple method is introduced for studying the afterpulsing effect in InGaAs single photon avalanche photodiode. The afterpulsing probability is obtained through measuring the detection efficiencies of various biasing pulses, while the incident photons are kept constant. The effect of excess bias and temperature on the afterpulsing probability is investigated. When the device temperature is higher than 170 K, the afterpulsing probability is lower than 5% for all excess bias voltages because the trapped carrier lifetime is much shorter than the repetition period.