We analyze the performance of photon-number-resolving (PNR) detectors and introduce a figure of merit for the accuracy of such detectors. This figure of merit is the (worst-case) probability that the photon-number-resolving detector correctly predicts the input photon number. Simulations of various PNR detectors based on multiplexed single-photon `click detectors' is performed. We conclude that the required quantum efficiency is very high in order to achieve even moderate (up to a handful) photon resolution, we derive the required quantum efficiency as a function of the the maximal photon number one wants to resolve, and we show that the number of click detectors required grows quadratically with the maximal number of photons resolvable.
@article{arxiv.1812.05422,
title = {Evaluating Performance of Photon-Number-Resolving Detectors},
author = {Mattias Jönsson and Gunnar Björk},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1812.05422},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
8 pages, 11 figures, a few references added in version 2