dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaReconstruction of photon statistics using low performance photon counters
| Authors | G. Zambra, M. G. A. Paris |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0607052 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0607052 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.74.063830 |
| Journal | Phys. Rev. A 74, 063830 (2006). |
Abstract
The output of a photodetector consists of a current pulse whose charge has the statistical distribution of the actual photon numbers convolved with a Bernoulli distribution. Photodetectors are characterized by a nonunit quantum efficiency, i.e. not all the photons lead to a charge, and by a finite resolution, i.e. a different number of detected photons leads to a discriminable values of the charge only up to a maximum value. We present a detailed comparison, based on Monte Carlo simulated experiments and real data, among the performances of detectors with different upper limits of counting capability. In our scheme the inversion of Bernoulli convolution is performed by maximum-likelihood methods assisted by measurements taken at different quantum efficiencies. We show that detectors that are only able to discriminate between zero, one and more than one detected photons are generally enough to provide a reliable reconstruction of the photon statistics for single-peaked distributions, while detectors with higher resolution limits do not lead to further improvements. In addition, we demonstrate that, for semiclassical states, even on/off detectors are enough to provide a good reconstruction. Finally, we show that a reliable reconstruction of multi-peaked distributions requires either higher quantum efficiency or better capability in discriminating high number of detected photons.
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"abstract": "The output of a photodetector consists of a current pulse whose charge has\nthe statistical distribution of the actual photon numbers convolved with a\nBernoulli distribution. Photodetectors are characterized by a nonunit quantum\nefficiency, i.e. not all the photons lead to a charge, and by a finite\nresolution, i.e. a different number of detected photons leads to a\ndiscriminable values of the charge only up to a maximum value. We present a\ndetailed comparison, based on Monte Carlo simulated experiments and real data,\namong the performances of detectors with different upper limits of counting\ncapability. In our scheme the inversion of Bernoulli convolution is performed\nby maximum-likelihood methods assisted by measurements taken at different\nquantum efficiencies. We show that detectors that are only able to discriminate\nbetween zero, one and more than one detected photons are generally enough to\nprovide a reliable reconstruction of the photon statistics for single-peaked\ndistributions, while detectors with higher resolution limits do not lead to\nfurther improvements. In addition, we demonstrate that, for semiclassical\nstates, even on/off detectors are enough to provide a good reconstruction.\nFinally, we show that a reliable reconstruction of multi-peaked distributions\nrequires either higher quantum efficiency or better capability in\ndiscriminating high number of detected photons.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0607052",
"authors": [
"G. Zambra",
"M. G. A. Paris"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.74.063830",
"journal_ref": "Phys. Rev. A 74, 063830 (2006).",
"title": "Reconstruction of photon statistics using low performance photon counters",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0607052"
},
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