Third-order antibunching from an imperfect single-photon source

Published

February 4, 2014

Author(s)

Martin J. Stevens, Scott C. Glancy, Sae Woo Nam, Richard P. Mirin

Abstract

We measure second- and third-order temporal coherences, g(2)(τ) and g(3)(τ1,τ2), of an optically excited single-photon source: an InGaAs quantum dot in a microcavity pedestal. Increasing the optical excitation power leads to an increase in the measured count rate, and also an increase in multi-photon emission probability. We show that standard measurements of g(2) provide limited information about this multi-photon probability, and that more information can be gained by simultaneously measuring g(3). Experimental results are compared with a simple theoretical model to show that the observed antibunchings are consistent with an incoherent addition of two sources: 1) an ideal single-photon source that never emits multiple photons and 2) a background cavity emission having Poissonian photon number statistics. Spectrally resolved cross-correlation measurements between quantum-dot and cavity modes show that photons from these two sources are largely uncorrelated, further supporting the model. We also analyze the Hanbury Brown-Twiss interferometer implemented with two or three “click” detectors, and explore the conditions under which it can be used to accurately measure g(2)(τ) and g(3)(τ1,τ2).

Proceedings Title

Single Photon Workshop 2011

Volume

22

Conference Dates

June 27-30, 2011

Conference Location

Braunschweig

Pub Type

Conferences

Keywords

Single-photon source, coherence, photon statistics

Citation

Stevens, M. , Glancy, S. , Nam, S. and Mirin, R. (2014), Third-order antibunching from an imperfect single-photon source, Single Photon Workshop 2011, Braunschweig, -1 (Accessed October 10, 2025)