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Applied Physics B

Single photon sources for quantum radiometry: a brief review about the current state-of-the-art

S. Kück, Marco López, Helmuth Hofer, Hristina Georgieva, Justus Christinck, Beatrice Rodiek, Geiland Porrovecchio, Marek Šmíd, Stephan Götzinger, Christoph Becher, Philipp Fuchs, Pietro Lombardi, Costanza Toninelli, Marco Trapuzzano, Maja Colautti, Giancarlo Margheri, Ivo Pietro Degiovanni, P. Traina, Sven Rodt, Stephan Reitzenstein

Published Jan 23, 2022• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Single-photon sources have a variety of applications. One of these is quantum radiometry, which is reported on in this paper in the form of an overview, specifically of the current state of the art in the application of deterministic single photon sources to the calibration of single photon detectors. To optimize single-photon sources for this purpose, extensive research is currently carried out at the European National Metrology Institutes (NMIs), in collaboration with partners from universities. Single-photon sources of different types are currently under investigation, including sources based on defect centres in (nano-)diamonds, on molecules and on semiconductor quantum dots. We will present, summarise, and compare the current results obtained at European NMIs for single-photon sources in terms of photon flux, single-photon purity, and spectral power distribution as well as the results of single-photon detector calibrations carried out with this type of light sources.

DOI
10.1007/s00340-021-07734-2

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Abstract Single-photon sources have a variety of applications. One of these is quantum radiometry, which is reported on in this paper in the form of an overview, specifically of the current state of the art in the application of deterministic single photon sources to the calibration of single photon detectors. To optimize single-photon sources for this purpose, extensive research is currently carried out at the European National Metrology Institutes (NMIs), in collaboration with partners from universities. Single-photon sources of different types are currently under investigation, including sources based on defect centres in (nano-)diamonds, on molecules and on semiconductor quantum dots. We will present, summarise, and compare the current results obtained at European NMIs for single-photon sources in terms of photon flux, single-photon purity, and spectral power distribution as well as the results of single-photon detector calibrations carried out with this type of light sources.
In this presentation a review about the current state of the art concerning the application of deterministic single photon sources for absolute radiometry, i.e. the calibration of single photon detectors, is given. At the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, the German national Metrology institute, an extensive research is carried out to optimize single photon sources for this purpose. Different single photon sources are currently under investigation, these are sources based on defect centres in (nano-)diamonds, on molecules and on semiconductor quantum dots.
Single photon sources based on single emitters such as 2D materials and impurities in diamond are of great interest for many application fields including quantum communication, quantum metrology and quantum sensing. In photometry and radiometry, a single photon source, having the ability to emit only one photon in a well-defined time and frequency domain, represents a promising candidate to realize a photon number-based primary standard for quantum radiometry. At the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), we have realized three kinds of single photon sources based on various single emitters at room temperature: silicon vacancy in diamond, defects in gallium nitride (GaN), and vacancy in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). We found common factors related with the relaxation times of the internal states that indirectly affect the photon number stability. We observed a high photon number stability in the GaN emitter due to faster relaxation times compared with the hBN emitter, which on the other hand produced high rates of photons per second (> 106). Moreover, we demonstrate repeatable radiant flux measurements of a bright hBN single photon emitter for a wide radiant flux range from a few tens of femtowatts to one picowatt.
The article surveys the state of the art in the design, development and application of devices for deterministically generating single photons on demand. Both the defined function and requisite form of such ‘single-photon’ sources are explained in detail. Their attributes and characteristics, in particular the photon-counting statistics of the light that they generate, are presented in conjunction with the experimental apparatus (most notably the Hanbury-Brown and Twiss interferometer) for measuring them. Promising applications of single-photon sources within quantum key distribution, quantum information processing, as well as metrology and fundamental tests of quantum mechanics, are described. The utility and relative advantages of single-photon sources vis-á-vis more conventional sources of light are explained in terms of application-specific requirements and the respective abilities of different sources to fulfil them. The article collects, classifies and sorts the most significant work towards realizing practical single-photon sources to date. Though emanating from a diverse set of technological disciplines, with different research and application objectives in mind, the relative advantages and drawbacks of each approach are assessed, to give the reader a broad yet coherent and critical review of a rapidly developing research front.
We will present our current efforts on single photon quantum metrology using high-efficiency superconducting detectors and high-efficiency single-photon sources based on spontaneous parametric downconversion. Optical power measurements based on single photon counting could establish a quantum standard for optical power calibration in the future. At NIST we are pursuing the development of single photon sources and single photon detectors for metrology, quantum and classical applications. As part of these efforts, we are pursuing the establishment of a measurement service for the calibration of single photon detectors. We present how our calibration is tied to the calibration of our transfer standard optical fiber power meters. Using the beamsplitter method, we have implemented a fiber-coupled and free-space measurement system. Also, we have developed testbeds and measurement protocols for the characterization of single photon sources and single photon detectors. We will review several methods, which allow for the characterization of the spatial and spectral degree of freedom in spontaneous parametric downconversion.
Single-photon sources (SPS) play a key-role in many applications, spanning from quantum metrology, to quantum information and to the foundations of quantum mechanics. Even if an ideal SPS (i. e. emitting indistinguishable, ”on-demand” single photons, at an arbitrarily fast repetition rate) is far to be realized due to real-world deviations from the ideality, much effort is currently devoted to improving the performance of real sources. With regards to the emission probability, it appears natural to employ sources that are in principle deterministic in the single- photon emission (single quantum emitters such as single atoms, ions, molecules, quantum dots, or color centers in diamond) as opposed to probabilistic ones (usually heralded SPS based on parametric down-conversion). We present an overview of our latest results concerning a work-in-progress NIR pulsed single photon source based on single quantum emitters (color centers in diamond) exploiting recently reported centers. They are particularly interesting because of the narrow emission line (tipically less than 5 nm), the shorter excited state lifetime with respect to NV centres (1 - 2 ns compared to 12 ns, allowing a ten-fold photon emission rate upon saturation) and the polarized emission.
The generation, measurement, and manipulation of light at the single- and few-photon levels underpin a rapidly expanding range of applications. These range from applications moving into the few-photon regime in order to achieve improved sensitivity and/or energy efficiency, as well as new applications that operate solely in this regime, such as quantum key distribution and physical quantum random number generation. There is intensive research to develop new quantum optical technologies, for example, quantum sensing, simulation, and computing. These applications rely on the performance of the single-photon sources and detectors they employ; this review article gives an overview of the methods, both conventional and recently developed, that are available for measuring the performance of these devices, with traceability to the SI system.