A Simple and Robust Balanced Homodyne Detector for High-Repetition-Rate Pulsed Sources

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Altilia, Samuele, Suerra, Edoardo, Puppi, Pietro, Corli, Sebastiano, Prati, Enrico, Cialdi, Simone
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Altilia, Samuele
Suerra, Edoardo
Puppi, Pietro
Corli, Sebastiano
Prati, Enrico
Cialdi, Simone
author_facet Altilia, Samuele
Suerra, Edoardo
Puppi, Pietro
Corli, Sebastiano
Prati, Enrico
Cialdi, Simone
contents We design and experimentally characterize a balanced homodyne detector optimized for high-repetition-rate (100 MHz) pulsed optical sources. Unlike conventional transimpedance-amplifier architectures, which suffer from nonlinearities and dynamic instabilities with ultrashort pulses, our approach allows to directly amplify the photocurrent extracted at the common photodiode node without feedback loops. A theoretical model describing the detector response, noise, and pulse-to-pulse correlations is developed, providing quantitative predictions for the signal variance, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and inter-pulse correlations. Implemented with two matched InGaAs photodiodes illuminated by a 1030 nm mode-locked laser at 100 MHz, the detector exhibits excellent linearity and shot-noise-limited scaling of the signal variance with optical power. Optimizing the temporal integration window yields a maximum SNR of about 14 dB, while correlation measurements confirm negligible inter-pulse correlations. These results demonstrate that the proposed architecture offers a robust and simple solution for high-speed pulsed homodyne detection, suitable for quantum optics and continuous-variable quantum information applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_06994
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Simple and Robust Balanced Homodyne Detector for High-Repetition-Rate Pulsed Sources
Altilia, Samuele
Suerra, Edoardo
Puppi, Pietro
Corli, Sebastiano
Prati, Enrico
Cialdi, Simone
Optics
Quantum Physics
We design and experimentally characterize a balanced homodyne detector optimized for high-repetition-rate (100 MHz) pulsed optical sources. Unlike conventional transimpedance-amplifier architectures, which suffer from nonlinearities and dynamic instabilities with ultrashort pulses, our approach allows to directly amplify the photocurrent extracted at the common photodiode node without feedback loops. A theoretical model describing the detector response, noise, and pulse-to-pulse correlations is developed, providing quantitative predictions for the signal variance, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and inter-pulse correlations. Implemented with two matched InGaAs photodiodes illuminated by a 1030 nm mode-locked laser at 100 MHz, the detector exhibits excellent linearity and shot-noise-limited scaling of the signal variance with optical power. Optimizing the temporal integration window yields a maximum SNR of about 14 dB, while correlation measurements confirm negligible inter-pulse correlations. These results demonstrate that the proposed architecture offers a robust and simple solution for high-speed pulsed homodyne detection, suitable for quantum optics and continuous-variable quantum information applications.
title A Simple and Robust Balanced Homodyne Detector for High-Repetition-Rate Pulsed Sources
topic Optics
Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.06994