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.
Highlights
This paper deals with the use of single-photon sources in the field of quantum radiometry, in particular for the calibration of single-photon detectors
We focus on the application of single-photon sources for the detection efficiency calibration of single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) detectors
We reported on the metrological characterization of different types of single-photon sources and their application for the detection efficiency calibration of singlephoton detectors, which is a specific aspect within quantum radiometry and quantum metrology
Summary
This paper deals with the use of single-photon sources in the field of quantum radiometry, in particular for the calibration of single-photon detectors. Single-photon sources based on this principle are called deterministic single photon sources and they could produce so-called “photons on demand” in the limit to perfect emission and collection efficiency Another possible way to generate single photons is the use of spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Since c and h have no uncertainty, and the frequency and wavelength can be measured with uncertainties in the 10–17 and 10–12 range, respectively, the optical radiant flux could be determined with an unprecedented accuracy, in particular far below the current state-of-the-art achieved using the cryogenic radiometer, which has uncertainties in the 10–5 range [8] This requires a perfect source, i.e., a source with a quantum efficiency of 100% (i.e., each excitation leads to an emission of a photon), a perfect purity of the single-photon emission, i.e., g(2)(0) = 0, and a collection efficiency of the emitted radiation of 100%. In the mise-en-pratique for the candela [7], the possibility to realize the candela exploiting (single) photons is explicitly stated, enabling photometric, radiometric, and their derived quantities to be expressed in terms of photonnumbers and photon number-based quantities
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