Journal of the Optical Society of America B
Nonlocal effects in the photoelectric detection of light
Hong Cao, L. Mandeļ
Abstract
The use of photoelectric detectors for counting photons is commonplace, and even one-photon states can now be realized experimentally.1,2 It is usually taken for granted that a photoelectric detection at some position at some time corresponds to the annihilation of a photon at that place at that time. Of course, the limited detection efficiency of practical detectors means that the photon number cannot usually be determined unambiguously.