Controllable photon source

Dániel Oszetzky; Attila Nagy; Aladár Czitrovszky

doi:10.1117/12.685999

25 October 2006 Controllable photon source

Dániel Oszetzky, Attila Nagy, Aladár Czitrovszky

Proceedings Volume 6372, Advanced Photon Counting Techniques; 637214 (2006) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.685999
Event: Optics East 2006, 2006, Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Abstract

We have developed our pervious experimental setup using correlated photon pairs (to the calibration of photo detectors) to realize a controllable photon source. For the generation of such photon pairs we use the non-linear process of parametric down conversion. When a photon of the pump beam is incident to a nonlinear crystal with phase matching condition, a pair of photons (signal and idler) is created at the same time with certain probability. We detect the photons in the signal beam with a single photon counting module (SPCM), while delaying those in the idler beam. Recently we have developed a fast electronic unit to control an optical shutter (a Pockels cell) placed to the optical output of the idler beam. When we detect a signal photon with the controlling electronic unit we are also able to open or close the fast optical shutter. Thus we can control which idler photons can propagate through the Pockels cell. So with this photon source we are able to program the number of photons in a certain time window. This controllable photon source that is able to generate a known number of photons with specified wavelength, direction, and polarization could be useful for applications in high-accuracy optical characterisation of photometric devices at the ultra-low intensities. This light source can also serve as a standard in testing of optical image intensifiers, night vision devices, and in the accurate measurement of spectral distribution of transmission and absorption in optical materials.

Citation Download Citation

Dániel Oszetzky, Attila Nagy, and Aladár Czitrovszky "Controllable photon source", Proc. SPIE 6372, Advanced Photon Counting Techniques, 637214 (25 October 2006); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.685999

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