A nonclassical light source is used to demonstrate experimentally the absolute efficiency calibration of a photon-number-resolving detector. The photon-pair detector calibration method developed by Klyshko for single-photon detectors is generalized to take advantage of the higher dynamic range and additional information provided by photon-number-resolving detectors. This enables the use of brighter twin-beam sources including amplified pulse pumped sources, which increases the relevant signal and provides measurement redundancy, making the calibration more robust.
@article{arxiv.0906.2182,
title = {Absolute efficiency estimation of photon-number-resolving detectors using twin beams},
author = {A. P. Worsley and H. B. Coldenstrodt-Ronge and J. S. Lundeen and P. J. Mosley and B. J. Smith and G. Puentes and N. Thomas-Peter and I. A. Walmsley},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0906.2182},
year = {2011}
}