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Chinese Optics Letters

Research in absolute calibration of single photon detectors by means of correlated photons

Yu Feng, Xiaobing Zheng, Jianjun Li, Wei Zhang

Published Jun 10, 2006• 1 citation
OpenAlex

Abstract

There are two general methods in radiometric calibration of detectors, one is based on radiation sources and the other based on detectors. Because the two methods need to establish a primary standard of high precision and a transfer chain, precision of the standard will be reduced by extension of the chain. A new calibration method of detectors can be realized by using correlated photons generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) effect of nonlinear crystal, without needing transfer chain. Using 351.1-nm output of a tunable laser to pump 'beta'-barium borate (BBO) crystal, an absolute calibration experimental system of single photon detectors based on correlated photons is performed. The quantum efficiency of photomultiplier (PMT) at 702.2 nm is measured by the setup. Advantages of this method over traditional methods are also pointed out by comparison.

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There are two general methods in radiometric calibration of detectors, one is based on radiation sources and the other based on detectors. Because the two methods need to establish a primary standard of high precision and a transfer chain, precision of the standard will be reduced by extension of the chain. A new calibration method of detectors can be realized by using correlated photons generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) effect of nonlinear crystal, without needing transfer chain. Using 351.1-nm output of a tunable laser to pump 'beta'-barium borate (BBO) crystal, an absolute calibration experimental system of single photon detectors based on correlated photons is performed. The quantum efficiency of photomultiplier (PMT) at 702.2 nm is measured by the setup. Advantages of this method over traditional methods are also pointed out by comparison.
There are two general methods for radiometric calibration of detectors. One is based on radiometric sources and the other is based on detectors. Because two methods need to establish primary standard of high precision and transfer chain of standard, the precision of standard will be reduced by extension of the chain. An absolute calibration of quantum efficiency of detectors can be realized by using correlated photons generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) effect of nonlinear crystal. Generation mechanism of SPDC is interpreted with theories of quantum mechanics and classical theories. The theory of calibration based correlated photons are demonstrated. The project for proof of principle of absolute calibration of quantum efficiency of radiometric detectors is given in this paper. Comparing with traditional methods, the advantages of it are pointed out. A scheme using to calibrate quantum efficiency of infrared detectors is described here. The measurement of spatial and spectral response of detectors is mentioned too.
A new calibration method of detectors can be realized by using correlated photons generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) effect of nonlinear crystal.An absolute calibration system of detector quantum efficiency is performed.And its principle and experimental setup are introduced.A continuouswave (CW) ultraviolet (351 nm), diode-pumped, frequency-doubled, and solid-state laser is used to pump BBO crystal.The quantum efficiencies of the photomultiplier at 633, 702, and 789 nm are measured respectively.The coincidence peaks are observed using coincidence circuit.Some measurement factors including the filter bandwidth of trigger channel, the detector position alignment and polarization of the pump light are analyzed.The uncertainties of this calibration method are also analyzed, and the relative uncertainties of total calibration are less than 5.8%.The accuracy of this method could be improved in the future.
The calibration of radiometric sensors is critical to ensure the accuracy of the remote sensing data and their usability.The current methods of the radiometric calibration are based on the establishment of high-precision primary standard and standard transfer chain,and the transfer chain is the main source of errors.The entangled photons-based theory creates a new technical way to realize the radiometric calibration of standardless transfer.The method of absolute calibration of photodetectors based on a nonclassical effect of the nonlinear optics in the photon-counting regime was discussed.The measurement was realized with the technique of entangled photons at 702 nm generated by a parametric down conversion process in a nonlinear crystal of BBO.The photomultiplier quantum-efficiency at the wavelength was measured during the experiment.It is estimated that the deviation is 0.1%.The technique is independent of any externally calibrated radiometric standards.
Correlated photons are generated in spontaneous parametric down-conversion(SPDC) effect of nonlinear crystal pumped by highly intensity laser.Generation mechanism of correlated photons is explained compendiously by theory of quantum mechanics;interpretation of classical optics is also shown.The theory of detector calibration in quantum efficiency based correlated photons method is demonstrated.Comparing with traditional methods,the advantages of it are pointed out.The latest advances in the field are described here;fundamental ideas,advantages and disadvantages of these methods are analyzed.The next direction of investigation and the method of realization are mentioned.The future of this field is also presented in this paper.
The optical radiometric calibration method based on correlated photons generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is a promising method,because it is based on the basic physical phenomena and does not need radiometric traceability.At the present,the SPDC calibration technology is applicable for the photon-counting detector with a highest calibration accuracy of 0.18%.More and more researchers are making effort to improve its calibration accuracy and expand its applicable targets to analog detectors.Correlated photon circles have the high photon rate characteristic.The photon rates of signal and idle light can be improved significantly by using correlated photon circles in calibration.It has very important significance to study the time-correlation characteristic of correlated photon circles. In this paper,the spatial distribution of emission angle of the broadband (450-1000 nm) correlated photons generated by type-I spontaneous parametric down-conversion is presented through the theoretical calculations.The ZEMAX optical software is used to design the optical system which can receive the broadband correlated photon circles and remove the pump laser which is the main source of stray light.The 355 nm wavelength laser is used to pump -barium borate (BBO) crystal to generate the broadband correlated photon circles.A low-light-level CMOS camera is used to adjust and align the opt-mechanical system.Finally,the 430 nm-860 nm correlated photon circles are received by the optical system and detected by the low-light-level CMOS camera.An experimental measurement system is established to measure the time-correlation characteristics of 685 nm and 736.89 nm correlated photon circles.Using 1.0 mW continuous-wave laser to pump BBO crystal,a coincidence peak is observed evidently.The results show that the correlated photon circles generated by type-I SPDC have the characteristics of time-correlation and high photon rates.It can be conductive to improving optical radiometric calibration accuracy based on correlated photons and promoting the development and application in analog detector calibration.
Single-photon detectors are of great importance in spectroscopy, laser ranging, astronomy and wherever weak light detection is required, so a precise knowledge of their quantum efficiency is essential, but their calibration is by no means trivial. Traditional methods need a black body radiation source or a highly attenuated laser beam as a reference standard, or an already calibrated reference detector. It is well known that absolute measurement of the quantum efficiency, absolute in the sense that the calibration is independent of any radiometric standard or the properties of another detector, can be performed using entangled twin photons generated in optical spontaneous parametric down-conversion together with a reference detector. We have performed the first proof-of-principle experiment to determine the quantum efficiency by which no second detector or reference standard is required. This absolute self-calibration method is also based on the time correlation of photons emitted in parametric down-conversion, but with the introduction of a suitable time delay between the arrival times of the twin photons. Furthermore, we describe a scheme for absolute self-calibration of the quantum efficiency at different wavelengths by means of a pulsed source of nondegenerate down-converted photons. This method should have even greater potential for applications.