We present results from several years of laboratory characterization and telescope deployment of the near infrared (NIR) avalanche photodiode (APD) array SAPHIRA from Leonardo S.p.A. Dark current has fallen by three orders of magnitude and we have demonstrated NIR photon counting. Tunnel-tunnel current dominates measured dark current at high bias voltages for temperatures ≤ 65K. At higher temperatures, tunnel-thermal dominates. At low temperatures and bias voltages, dark is glow-limited and not responsive to either temperature or bias voltage. Histograms of individual avalanche events show a broad distribution but allow for photon-counting. Several deployments of the SAPHIRA have also been conducted.

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Dani Atkinson, Donald Hall, Sean Goebel, Shane Jacobson, and Ian Baker, "Observatory deployment and characterization of SAPHIRA HgCdTe APD arrays," Proc. SPIE 10709, High Energy, Optical, and Infrared Detectors for Astronomy VIII, 107091H (Presented at SPIE Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation: June 13, 2018; Published: 6 July 2018); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2311814.