Quantum and classical characterization of single/few photon detectors

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in the calibration and characterization of single- and few-photon detectors, emphasizing both classical and quantum approaches, with a focus on absolute calibration and photon-number-resolving detectors.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent results in quantum optics labs on detector calibration, highlighting both classical and quantum characterization methods.

Findings

Successful absolute calibration of single-photon detectors.

Quantum characterization methods for photon-number-resolving detectors.

Comparison between classical and quantum approaches to detector calibration.

Abstract

This paper's 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 viewpoint. 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.