Abstract
We demonstrate an approach to measure temporal correlations of photons in the near infrared range using frequency up-conversion. In this approach, the near infrared signal photons are converted into the visible range, in which highly efficient silicon avalanche photodiodes are used to perform the temporal correlation measurements. A coherent light source and a pseudo-thermal light source were used in the experiment. The results are in agreement with theoretical values and those obtained from measurements directly made using superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. We conclude that the temporal correlation (up to 4th order) of photons was preserved in the frequency up-conversion process. We further theoretically and experimentally studied the influence of the dark counts on the measurement. The setup uses commercially available components and achieves high total detection efficiency (~26%).
Highlights
Temporal correlation measurements of photons are widely used to study a variety of photon sources and their physical characteristics
We demonstrate an approach to measure second, third- and fourth-order temporal correlations of photons in the near infrared (NIR) region using an up-conversion device
The photon statistics are well preserved in the frequency up-conversion process
Summary
Temporal correlation measurements of photons are widely used to study a variety of photon sources and their physical characteristics. High order temporal correlation measurements for the NIR range were implemented by using four-element superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) [13]. By using up-conversion, we convert photons in the NIR region into the visible region, and measure the temporal correlation (up to the fourth order) of the up-converted photons using Si-APDs that have high detection efficiency in this range. A coherent light source and a pseudo-thermal light source are used here, allowing for direct comparison to theory [13,27] The goal of this experiment is to demonstrate that the temporal correlations of the up-converted photons are identical to those of the original photons, i.e., the original photon statistical characteristics are preserved in the up-conversion process. The setup uses commercially available components and the total detection efficiency is about 26%
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