Metrological characterization of a commercial single-photon source with high photon flux emission

authored by: Hristina Georgieva, Petr Stepanov, Leonora Sewidan, Anton Pishchagin, Marco López, Stefan Kück
Abstract: We present a comprehensive metrological characterization of a commercial single-photon source with high photon flux emission for use in radiometry. The source is based on an InGaAs quantum dot in a micropillar. A comparative analysis of two excitation schemes—phonon-assisted excitation and two-photon excitation—explores differences in excitation power dependence, temporal stability and single-photon purity. The commercial source exhibits excellent properties for the field of quantum radiometry, achieving simultaneously a photon flux of (17.19 ± 0.09) million photons/s for a pulse repetition rate of 79.4 MHz, and a single-photon purity of 98%. Its optical power of (3.68 ± 0.02) pW is directly determined with a traceably calibrated low-noise photodiode. The ability to directly compare the photocurrent in a low-noise photodiode with the count rate at a single-photon avalanche detector allows for a seamless transition between the classical and quantum realizations of optical power. Therefore, we were able to build another bridge between classical and quantum radiometry by using a deterministic single-photon source.
External Organisation(s): National Metrology Institute of Germany (PTB)
Quandela
Type: Article
Journal: METROLOGIA
Volume: 61
ISSN: 0026-1394
Publication date: 23.07.2024
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: Engineering(all)
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1088/1681-7575/ad615e (Access: Open)

BibTeX

@article{31b0527408d841fb9025a057cb051362,
title = "Metrological characterization of a commercial single-photon source with high photon flux emission",
abstract = "We present a comprehensive metrological characterization of a commercial single-photon source with high photon flux emission for use in radiometry. The source is based on an InGaAs quantum dot in a micropillar. A comparative analysis of two excitation schemes—phonon-assisted excitation and two-photon excitation—explores differences in excitation power dependence, temporal stability and single-photon purity. The commercial source exhibits excellent properties for the field of quantum radiometry, achieving simultaneously a photon flux of (17.19 ± 0.09) million photons/s for a pulse repetition rate of 79.4 MHz, and a single-photon purity of 98%. Its optical power of (3.68 ± 0.02) pW is directly determined with a traceably calibrated low-noise photodiode. The ability to directly compare the photocurrent in a low-noise photodiode with the count rate at a single-photon avalanche detector allows for a seamless transition between the classical and quantum realizations of optical power. Therefore, we were able to build another bridge between classical and quantum radiometry by using a deterministic single-photon source.",
keywords = "calibration, optical power, photon flux, quantum radiometry, single-photon source",
author = "Hristina Georgieva and Petr Stepanov and Leonora Sewidan and Anton Pishchagin and Marco L{\'o}pez and Stefan K{\"u}ck",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2024 The Author(s). Published on behalf of BIPM by IOP Publishing Ltd.",
year = "2024",
month = jul,
day = "23",
doi = "10.1088/1681-7575/ad615e",
language = "English",
volume = "61",
journal = "METROLOGIA",
issn = "0026-1394",
publisher = "IOP Publishing Ltd.",
number = "5",
}