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arXiv:quant-ph/0606041 · Applied Optics

Measuring the absolute photodetection efficiency using photon number correlations

Michael Lindenthal, Johannes Kofler

Published Aug 20, 2006• 10 citations
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Abstract

We present two methods for determining the absolute detection efficiency of photon-counting detectors directly from their singles rates under illumination from a nonclassical light source. One method is based on a continuous variable analog to coincidence counting in discrete photon experiments, but it does not actually rely on high detector time resolutions. The second method is based on difference detection, which is a typical detection scheme in continuous variable quantum optics experiments. Since no coincidence detection is required with either method, they are useful for detection efficiency measurements of photodetectors with detector time resolutions far too low to resolve coincidence events.

DOI
10.1364/ao.45.006059

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We present two methods for determining the absolute detection efficiency of photon-counting detectors directly from their singles rates under illumination from a nonclassical light source. One method is based on a continuous variable analog to coincidence counting in discrete photon experiments, but it does not actually rely on high detector time resolutions. The second method is based on difference detection, which is a typical detection scheme in continuous variable quantum optics experiments. Since no coincidence detection is required with either method, they are useful for detection efficiency measurements of photodetectors with detector time resolutions far too low to resolve coincidence events.
The quantum phenomena of parametric down conversion have been used for absolute measurement of the photodetector quantum efficiency of ultra-low-light radiation ranging from 10-12 to 10-15 W, which is equivalent to photon fluxes of 107 to 104 s-1. The process of parametric down conversion gives rise to highly correlated (in time and space) photon flux pairs. We describe the method, experimental investigation, and a new device involving the measurement of the coincidence rate of photodetection of these two correlated beams of light. The coincidence is lowered by a nonunit quantum efficiency of either detection. This fact was used for the definition of the absolute value of both photodetector's quantum efficiencies.
We realize and test in experiment a method recently proposed for measuring absolute quantum efficiency of analog photodetectors. Similar to the traditional (Klyshko) method of absolute calibration, the new one is based on the direct detection of two-mode squeezed vacuum at the output of a traveling wave OPA. However, in the new method, one measures the difference-photocurrent variance rather than the correlation function of photocurrents (number of coincidences), which makes the technique applicable for high-gain OPA. In this work we test the new method versus the traditional one for the case of photon-counting detectors where both techniques are valid.
An absolute self-calibration method is proposed for determining the quantum efficiency of a single photon detector which does not require any standard referenc e or a second detector. The method is based on the time correlation of photon pa irs generated in parametric downconversion. A beam of frequency downconverted ph otons is split at a polarizing beamsplitter then recombined at a second beamspli tter, but with a time delay introduced between them so that the two photons of a n original pair enter the detector one by one. The photoelectric pulses from the detector are split into three paths; a compensating delay is introduced into tw o of the paths so that the two signals arrive simultaneously at a coincidence co unter; the third path goes directly to a photon counter. From the ratio of the r eadings of the two counters we can derive the quantum efficiency of the detector . Two methods are given, one for continuous wave lasers and another for high rep etition rate pulsed lasers.
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.