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)