Journal of the Optical Society of America A
Analysis of a light beam with a periodically modulated intensity by triggered photon counting
M. Á. Rebolledo, J. M. Alvarez, Julio Cesar Amare
Abstract
Theoretical expressions for the factorial moments of the triggered photon-counting distribution that corresponds to a light beam with a periodically modulated intensity are derived. Two triggering procedures are considered: the time-window triggering procedure (which has been experimentally checked for Gaussian light by other authors) and the first-photopulse triggering procedure (which is a faster procedure). The theoretical expressions that correspond to the latter procedure are experimentally checked in this paper by using a square-wave signal. The errors involved in the analysis of the information contained in the light beam, when this information is obtained from the measurement of the first-order factorial moment, are studied.