Absolute self-calibration of the quantum efficiency of single-photon detectors

Single-photon detectors are finding increasingly wide application in all branches of science and technology thus a precise knowledge of their quantum efficiency is an essential prerequisite. We have performed the first proof-of-principle demonstration of a means to determine the quantum efficiency b...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Optics letters 2006-08, Vol.31 (16), p.2441-2443
Main Authors: CHEN, Xi-Hao, ZHAI, Yan-Hua, DA ZHANG, WU, Ling-An
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Exact sciences and technology
Fundamental areas of phenomenology (including applications)
Optics
Photon statistics and coherence theory
Physics
Quantum optics
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Summary:Single-photon detectors are finding increasingly wide application in all branches of science and technology thus a precise knowledge of their quantum efficiency is an essential prerequisite. We have performed the first proof-of-principle demonstration of a means to determine the quantum efficiency by which no second detector or reference standard is required. This absolute self-calibration method is based on the time correlation of entangled photons pairs emitted in spontaneous parametric down conversion. The measured quantum efficiency of a Si avalanche photodiode single-photon detector agrees well with the product specifications.
ISSN:0146-9592
1539-4794
DOI:10.1364/OL.31.002441