Noisy detectors with unmatched detection efficiency thwart identification of single photon emitters via photon coincidence correlation

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that asymmetric detector efficiencies and high background noise can prevent accurate identification of single photon emitters using photon coincidence correlation techniques.

Contribution

The study introduces stochastic simulation methods to analyze how detector imperfections impact SPE identification, revealing limitations of current heuristics.

Findings

Asymmetric detection efficiencies hinder SPE identification.

Background noise exceeding half the signal rate impairs detection.

Standard $g^{(2)}(0)<1/2$ criterion can be unreliable under realistic conditions.

Abstract

Single photon emitters (SPEs) are often identified with a Hanbury Brown and Twiss intensity interferometer (HBTII) consisting of a 50:50 beamsplitter and two time-correlated single photon counters. For an SPE, the cross-correlation of photon arrival time between the two detectors, $g^{(2)}(\tau)$, shows a hallmark dip to zero at $\tau=0$. One common heuristic for identifying SPEs is by measuring a system to have $g^{(2)}(0)<1/2$. Here in, we use stochastic methods to simulate the case of a SPE observed with non-ideal detectors and optics. We show that identification of SPEs is thwarted when the detectors have asymmetric detection efficiency, and when detector background noise is more than half the true SPE signal rate.