Macroscopic photon counting beating the Poisson noise limit

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2604.27761v1
• Date: Thu, 30 Apr 2026 11:50:51 GMT
• Title: Macroscopic photon counting beating the Poisson noise limit
• Abstract summary: We demonstrate sub-single-photon precision up to 276 photons per pulse.<n>A photon-number-resolving detector of this size will become increasingly important to characterize large quantum states.
• Score: 0.0
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Photon counting is a cornerstone of quantum optics. Here, we demonstrate precisely counting from 0 to over 9000 photons, beating the Poisson noise limit by at least $4.1~\mathrm{dB}$ across this range. We achieve sub-single-photon precision up to 276 photons per pulse. To do so, we multiplex eight intrinsically photon-number-resolving superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors across 128 temporal modes. We use a model-informed characterization of each of the 1024 detection bins, for optimal precision. We perform quantum detector tomography to reconstruct the positive operator valued measures (POVMs) of the complete device, which consists of $1.38\cdot10^8$ matrix elements. At the repetition rate of our experiment of $80~\mathrm{kHz}$, we can precisely count photons corresponding to an optical power of approximately $71~\mathrm{pW}$, bridging the gap from single-photon measurements to high-sensitivity optical power meters. A photon-number-resolving detector of this size, and the tools used to analyze it, will become increasingly important to characterize large quantum states, as well as tasks in precision metrology and optical power standards.

Related papers

• Amplification and Detection of Single Itinerant Microwave Photons [0.0]
  Low energy of microwave photons makes their detection much harder than for visible light.<n>Josephson-photonics device uses inelastic Cooper-pair tunneling driven by a dc bias in combination with the energy of an incoming photon.<n>Devices with two multiplication stages with multiplication of $16$ reach for an impinging Gaussian pulse of length $T$ a detection probability of $84.5%$ with a dark count rate of $10-3/T$.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-10-09T10:07:38Z)
• High-Performance Photon Number Resolving Detectors for 850-950 nm wavelengths [0.0]
  superconducting-nanowire single-photon detectors have witnessed two decades of great developments. Recent research works have demonstrated proof of principle photon number resolving (PNR) SNSPDs counting 2 to 5 photons. In this paper, we demonstrate NbTiN based SNSPDs with over 94 percent system detection efficiency, sub 11 ps timing jitter for one photon, and sub 7 ps for two photon.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-01-14T11:51:10Z)
• Design and simulation of a transmon qubit chip for Axion detection [103.69390312201169]
  Device based on superconducting qubits has been successfully applied in detecting few-GHz single photons via Quantum Non-Demolition measurement (QND) In this study, we present Qub-IT's status towards the realization of its first superconducting qubit device.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-10-08T17:11:42Z)
• Microwave photon-number amplification [0.0]
  Single photon detectors accurately detect single photons, but saturate as soon as two photons arrive simultaneously. More linear watt meters, such as bolometers, are too noisy to accurately detect single microwave photons. We demonstrate a microwave photon-multiplication scheme which combines the advantages of a single photon detector and a power meter by multiplying the incoming photon number by an integer factor.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2023-03-06T14:42:01Z)
• Integrated Quantum Optical Phase Sensor [48.7576911714538]
  We present a photonic integrated circuit fabricated in thin-film lithium niobate. We use the second-order nonlinearity to produce a squeezed state at the same frequency as the pump light and realize circuit control and sensing with electro-optics. We anticipate that on-chip photonic systems like this, which operate with low power and integrate all of the needed functionality on a single die, will open new opportunities for quantum optical sensing.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-12-19T18:46:33Z)
• On-chip quantum information processing with distinguishable photons [55.41644538483948]
  Multi-photon interference is at the heart of photonic quantum technologies. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that detection can be implemented with a temporal resolution sufficient to interfere photons detuned on the scales necessary for cavity-based integrated photon sources. We show how time-resolved detection of non-ideal photons can be used to improve the fidelity of an entangling operation and to mitigate the reduction of computational complexity in boson sampling experiments.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-10-14T18:16:49Z)
• Quantum-limited millimeter wave to optical transduction [50.663540427505616]
  Long distance transmission of quantum information is a central ingredient of distributed quantum information processors. Current approaches to transduction employ solid state links between electrical and optical domains. We demonstrate quantum-limited transduction of millimeter-wave (mmwave) photons into optical photons using cold $85$Rb atoms as the transducer.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-07-20T18:04:26Z)
• Unveiling photon statistics with a 100-pixel photon-number-resolving detector [0.09786690381850356]
  We demonstrate an on-chip detector that can resolve up to 100 photons by multiplexing an array of superconducting nanowires along a single waveguide. The unparalleled photon number paired with the high-speed resolution response exclusively allows us to unveil the quantum photon statistics of a true thermal light source.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-06-28T04:38:58Z)
• Quantum density matrix theory for a laser without adiabatic elimination of the population inversion: transition to lasing in the class-B limit [62.997667081978825]
  No class-B quantum density-matrix model is available to date, capable of accurately describing coherence and photon correlations within a unified theory. Here we carry out a density-matrix theoretical approach for generic class-B lasers, and provide closed equations for the photonic and atomic reduced density matrix in the Fock basis of photons. This model enables the study of few-photon bifurcations and non-classical photon correlations in class-B laser devices, also leveraging quantum descriptions of coherently coupled nanolaser arrays.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2022-05-26T16:33:51Z)
• Improved heralded single-photon source with a photon-number-resolving superconducting nanowire detector [0.0]
  We herald a single photon at telecommunication wavelength using a superconducting nanowire detector. We develop an analytical model using a phase-space formalism that encompasses all multiphoton effects and relevant imperfections. Our experiment, built using fiber-coupled and off-the-shelf components, delineates a path to engineering ideal sources of single photons.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2021-12-21T18:48:34Z)
• Near-ideal spontaneous photon sources in silicon quantum photonics [55.41644538483948]
  Integrated photonics is a robust platform for quantum information processing. Sources of single photons that are highly indistinguishable and pure, that are either near-deterministic or heralded with high efficiency, have been elusive. Here, we demonstrate on-chip photon sources that simultaneously meet each of these requirements.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2020-05-19T16:46:44Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.