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arXiv:quant-ph/0502060 · Physical Review Letters

Experimental Reconstruction of Photon Statistics without Photon Counting

Guido Zambra, Alessandra Andreoni, Maria Bondani, Marco Gramegna, Marco Genovese, G. Brida, Andrea Renato Rossi, Matteo G. A. Paris

Published Aug 5, 2005• 167 citations
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Abstract

Experimental reconstructions of photon number distributions of both continuous-wave and pulsed light beams are reported. Our scheme is based on on/off avalanche photo-detection assisted by maximum-likelihood estimation and does not involve photon counting. Reconstructions of the distribution for both semiclassical and quantum states of light are reported for single-mode as well as for multi-mode beams.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.95.063602

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