This papers purpose is to review the results recently obtained in the Quantum Optics labs of the National Institute of Metrological Research (INRIM) in the field of single- and few-photon detectors calibration, from both the classical and quantum vie
wpoint. In the first part of the paper is presented the calibration of a single-photon detector with absolute methods, while in the second part we focus on photon-number-resolving detectors, discussing both the classical and quantum characterization of such devices.
We present the first experimental test that distinguishes between an event-based corpuscular model (EBCM) [H. De Raedt et al.: J. Comput. Theor. Nanosci. 8 (2011) 1052] of the interaction of photons with matter and quantum mechanics. The test looks a
t the interference that results as a single photon passes through a Mach-Zehnder interferometer [H. De Raedt et al.: J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 74 (2005) 16]. The experimental results, obtained with a low-noise single-photon source [G. Brida et al.: Opt. Expr. 19 (2011) 1484], agree with the predictions of standard quantum mechanics with a reduced $chi^2$ of 0.98 and falsify the EBCM with a reduced $chi^2$ of greater than 20.
We present a complete and exhaustive theory of signal-to-noise-ratio in bipartite ghost imaging with classical (thermal) and quantum (twin beams) light. The theory is compared with experiment for both twin beams and thermal light in a certain regime of interest.
Generation of two-photon wavepackets, produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion in crystals with linearly chirped quasi-phase matching grating, is analyzed. Although being spectrally broad, two-photon wavepackets produced this way are not Fo
urier transform limited. In the paper we discuss the temporal compression of the wavepackets, exploiting the insertion of a standard optical fiber in the path of one of the two photons. The effect is analyzed by means of full numerical calculation and the exact dispersion dependencies in both the crystal and the fiber are considered. The study opens the way to the practical realization of this idea.
We test two-dimensional TPSA of biphoton light emitted via ultrafast spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) using the effect of group-velocity dispersion in optical fibres. Further, we apply this technique to demonstrate the engineering of bip
hoton spectral properties by acting on the pump pulse shape.
Speckle structure of parametric down conversion light has recently received a large attention due to relevance in view of applications to quantum imaging The possibility of tailoring the speckle size by acting on the pump properties is an interesti
ng tool for the applications to quantum imaging and in particular to the detection of weak object under shot-noise limit. Here we present a systematic detailed experimental study of the speckle structure produced in type II PDC with particular attention to its variation with pump beam properties.
Sub shot noise imaging of weak object by exploiting Parametric Down Converted light represents a very interesting technological development. A precise characterization of PDC speckle structure in dependence of pump beam parameters is a fundamental to
ol for this application. In this paper we present a first set of data addressed to this purpose.
In a recent paper [R. Alicki and N. Van Ryn, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor., 41, 062001 (2008)] a test of nonclassicality for a single qubit was proposed. Here, we discuss the class of local realistic theories to which this test applies and present an experimental realization.
We address the reconstruction of the full photon distribution of multimode fields generated by seeded parametric down-conversion (PDC). Our scheme is based on on/off avalanche photodetection assisted by maximum-likelihood (MaxLik) estimation and does
not involve photon counting. We present a novel constrained MaxLik method that incorporates the request of finite energy to improve the rate of convergence and, in turn, the overall accuracy of the reconstruction.
Spontaneous parametric down conversion has been largely exploited as a tool for absolute calibration of photon counting detectors, photomultiplier tubes or avalanche photodiodes working in Geiger regime. In this work we investigate the extension of t
his technique from very low photon flux of photon counting regime to the absolute calibration of analog photodetectors at higher photon flux. Moving toward higher photon rate, i.e. at high gain regime, with the spontaneous parametric down conversion shows intrinsic limitations of the method, while the stimulated parametric down conversion process, where a seed beam properly injected into the crystal in order to increase the photon generation rate in the conjugate arm, allows us to work around this problem. A preliminary uncertainty budget is discussed.
