Multifold enhancement of quantum SNR by using an EMCCD as a photon number resolving device

Abstract

Electron multiplying charge-coupled devices (EMCCDs), owing to their high quantum efficiency and spatial resolution, are widely used to study typical quantum optical phenomena and related applications. Researchers have already developed a procedure that enables one to statistically determine whether a pixel detects a single photon, based on whether its output is higher or lower than the estimated noise level. However, these techniques are feasible at extremely low photon numbers (≈0.15 mean number of photons per pixel per exposure), allowing for at most one photon per pixel. This limitation necessitates a very large number of frames required for any study. In this work, we present a method to estimate the mean rate of photons per pixel per frame for arbitrary exposure time. Subsequently, we make a statistical estimate of the number of photons (≥ 1) incident on each pixel. This allows us to effectively use the EMCCD as a photon number resolving device. This immediately augments the acceptable light levels in the experiments, leading to significant reduction in the required experimentation time. As evidence of our approach, we quantify contrast in quantum correlation exhibited by a pair of spatially entangled photons generated by a spontaneous parametric down conversion process. In comparison with conventional methods, our method realizes an enhancement in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by approximately a factor of 3 for half the data collection time. This SNR can be easily enhanced by minor modifications in experimental parameters such as exposure time, etc.