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PUBLICATIONS

Single-Photon Sources and Detectors Book: Chapter 1: Introduction

Published

Author(s)

Joshua C. Bienfang, Jingyun Fan, Alan L. Migdall, Sergey V. Polyakov

Abstract

In the beginning there was light. And it was good. Not long thereafter people began to look for a comprehensive understanding of its nature. While the publication record starts o a little spotty, in the fth century BC the Greek philosopher Empedocles concluded that light consists of rays that emanate from the eye. This point of view was questioned using what today might be characterized as a local realism argument by Euclid in his classic text on light propagation Optica. Euclid hypothesized that rays of light are emitted by external sources. But it was not until Ibn al-Haytham in 1000 AD that this view was put on a scienti c footing.
Citation
Single-Photon Sources and Detectors
Publisher Info
Elsevier, Philadelphia, PA
Pub Type
Books

Download Paper

Local Download

Keywords

history of single-photon technology, sources, detector, applications of single photons
Optical physics and communications and Quantum information science

Citation

Bienfang, J. , Fan, J. , Migdall, A. and Polyakov, S. (2013), Single-Photon Sources and Detectors Book: Chapter 1: Introduction, Elsevier, Philadelphia, PA, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=914574 (Accessed October 28, 2025)

Issues

If you have any questions about this publication or are having problems accessing it, please contact [email protected].

Created November 29, 2013, Updated February 19, 2017
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