Quantum Simulation of the Thermal Dark Counts of the SPAD Detector for Space Applications

Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India

^* e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
^** e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 23 March 2026

Abstract

Single-Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) are widely employed in spacebased photon detection systems for applications such as deep-space communication, LIDAR, and radiation monitoring. However, their performance is fundamentally limited by thermal dark counts, which are spurious detection events arising from temperature-induced carrier excitations. In this work, we present a quantum-mechanical modelling framework in which the SPAD is represented as a quantized two-level system |g> , |e> corresponding to the ground and excited (avalanche-triggering) states. Thermal effects are incorporated through open quantum system dynamics using the Lindblad master equation, enabling a physically consistent description of temperature-driven carrier generation and relaxation processes. To enable scalable and hardware-relevant analysis, we implement the model within a gate-based quantum simulation framework, where quantum state transitions emulate thermally induced carrier excitation events. The time evolution of the excitation probability is computed to extract the theoretical dark count rate under varying thermal conditions relevant to space environments. This approach establishes a quantum simulation platform for predicting SPAD noise behaviour in temperature-variable environments, providing a foundation for optimizing detector design and improving photon-counting reliability in space applications.