217 km long distance photon-counting optical time-domain reflectometry based on ultra-low noise up-conversion single photon detector.

We demonstrate a photon-counting optical time-domain reflectometry with 42.19 dB dynamic range using an ultra-low noise up-conversion single photon detector. By employing the long-wave pump technique and a volume Bragg grating, we achieve a noise equivalent power of -139.7 dBm/√Hz for our detector. We perform the OTDR experiments using a fiber of length approximate 217 km, and show that our system can identify defects along the entire fiber length in a measurement time of 13 minutes.

[1]  Nicolas Gisin,et al.  High resolution optical time domain reflectometer based on 1.55mum up-conversion photon-counting module. , 2007, Optics express.

[2]  N. Gisin,et al.  Photon-counting OTDR for local birefringence and fault analysis in the metro environment , 2004, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[3]  A. Migdall,et al.  Reduced deadtime and higher rate photon-counting detection using a multiplexed detector array , 2006, quant-ph/0601102.

[4]  Jun Zhang,et al.  Photon Counting OTDR: Advantages and Limitations , 2010, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[5]  M. Fejer,et al.  Ultralow noise up-conversion detector and spectrometer for the telecom band. , 2013, Optics express.

[6]  Lin Kang,et al.  Photon-Counting Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry Using a Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detector , 2012, Journal of Lightwave Technology.

[7]  Hiroki Takesue,et al.  1.5- mum single photon counting using polarization-independent up-conversion detector. , 2006, Optics express.

[8]  M. Fejer,et al.  1.5 microm photon-counting optical time-domain reflectometry with a single-photon detector based on upconversion in a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide. , 2006, Optics Letters.

[9]  Nicolas Gisin,et al.  High resolution OTDR based on up-conversion photon-counting module , 2007, SPIE Optics + Optoelectronics.

[10]  Wolfram H. P. Pernice,et al.  Optical time domain reflectometry with low noise waveguide-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors , 2013 .

[11]  S. Personick,et al.  Photon probe — an optical-fiber time-domain reflectometer , 1977, The Bell System Technical Journal.

[12]  M. Barnoski,et al.  Fiber waveguides: a novel technique for investigating attenuation characteristics. , 1976, Applied optics.

[13]  Nicolas Gisin,et al.  Long-distance OTDR using photon counting and large detection gates at telecom wavelength , 2002 .