Photon-number-resolving superconducting photon detectors promise to simplify detection schemes where only photon statistics matters in the few-photon regimes. Employed in one- and two-photon subtraction protocols, they allowed reconstruction of the photon number distribution for coherent and thermal states obtained from a pulsed laser at telecom wavelengths. The experimental setup is based on photon detection events recorded using a photon-number-resolving detector based on an array of eight superconducting NbN nanostrips working at 2.2 K. Photon subtraction was implemented using a low-reflectivity beam splitter and two superconducting nanostrip single photon detectors with an efficiency higher than 90% and a dark count rate of 1 cps. Our results confirm that our scheme accurately reproduces the theoretically expected effects of the annihilation operator on the states, achieving a fidelity higher than 99%.
Photon statistics of one- and two-photon subtracted states at telecom wavelength reconstructed via direct detection / Ercolano, P.; Porzio, A.; Ejrnaes, M.; Salvoni, D.; Bruscino, C.; Peluso, M.; Huang, J.; Zhang, C.; Li, H.; You, L.; Parlato, L.; Pepe, G. P.. - In: OPTICS EXPRESS. - ISSN 1094-4087. - 33:16(2025), pp. 33446-33455. [10.1364/oe.568296]
Photon statistics of one- and two-photon subtracted states at telecom wavelength reconstructed via direct detection
Ercolano, P.;Bruscino, C.;Peluso, M.;Zhang, C.;Parlato, L.
;Pepe, G. P.
2025
Abstract
Photon-number-resolving superconducting photon detectors promise to simplify detection schemes where only photon statistics matters in the few-photon regimes. Employed in one- and two-photon subtraction protocols, they allowed reconstruction of the photon number distribution for coherent and thermal states obtained from a pulsed laser at telecom wavelengths. The experimental setup is based on photon detection events recorded using a photon-number-resolving detector based on an array of eight superconducting NbN nanostrips working at 2.2 K. Photon subtraction was implemented using a low-reflectivity beam splitter and two superconducting nanostrip single photon detectors with an efficiency higher than 90% and a dark count rate of 1 cps. Our results confirm that our scheme accurately reproduces the theoretically expected effects of the annihilation operator on the states, achieving a fidelity higher than 99%.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
