Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Single-photon detectors are widely used in modern quantum optics experiments and applications. Like all detectors, it is important for these devices to be accurately calibrated. A single-photon detector is calibrated by determining its detection efficiency; the common method to measure this quantity requires comparison to another detector. Here, we suggest a method to measure the detection efficiency of a single-photon detector without requiring an external reference detector. Our method is valid for individual single-photon detectors as well as multiplexed detectors, which are known to be photon number resolving. The method exploits the even-number photon-statistics of a nonlinear source, as well as the nonlinear loss of a single-photon detector that occurs when multiple photons are incident simultaneously. We have analytically modeled multiplexed detectors and used the results to experimentally demonstrate the calibration of a single-photon detector without the need for an external reference detector.
Source: Physical Review A
Authors: Lior Cohen, Yehuda Pilnyak, Daniel Istrati, Nicholas M. Studer, Jonathan P. Dowling, Hagai S. Eisenberg
Language: English
Subfield: Artificial Intelligence
Field: Computer Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funder: Army Research Office
OpenAlex ID: W2767730029