Charactering the photon statistics properties of a squeezed light with a modified-HBT interferometer

Abstract

By replacing the two single-photon detectors in HBT experiment with a pair of homodyne detectors, a modified-HBT interferometer was constructed. We introduced the principle and procedure for the measurement of second-order correlation function g(2)(0) of light based on the modified-HBT interferometer. The subtraction of dark noise in the process was discussed in detail for the first time. By recording four permutations of the quadratures with the interferometer and then calculating the correlation, the measurement of second-order correlation function for displaced squeezed light was realized, hence the photon statistics properties were characterized. The behavior of g(2)(0) values was totally interpreted with a viewpoint of two-photon interference, which can provide a good physical image for understanding the photon statistics properties of the squeezed light. This technique based on homodyne detectors may provide another approach for the detection and characterization of nonclassical states in the fields of quantum communication processing and quantum metrology.