Extending the quantum tomography of a quasi-photon-number-resolving detector.

The ability to discriminate the number of photons in a radiation field has a critical role in the implementation of quantum optical technologies. True photon-number-resolving detectors are rare and complex devices, while a quasi-photon-number-resolving detector (qPNRD) is a practical alternative for real-world applications. Our qPNRD is composed of a fiber demultiplexer and individual non-photon-number-resolving detectors.

The partial space qualification of a vertically aligned carbon nanotube coating on aluminium substrates for EO applications.

The fabrication of NanoTube Black, a Vertically Aligned carbon NanoTube Array (VANTA) on aluminium substrates is reported for the first time. The coating on aluminium was realised using a process that employs top down thermal radiation to assist growth, enabling deposition at temperatures below the substrate's melting point. The NanoTube Black coatings were shown to exhibit directional hemispherical reflectance values of typically less than 1% across wavelengths in the 2.

Low optical power reference detector implemented in the validation of two independent techniques for calibrating photon-counting detectors.

We introduce a technique for measuring detection efficiency that is traceable to the primary standard, the cryogenic radiometer, through a reference silicon photodiode trap detector. The trap detector, used in conjunction with a switched integrator amplifier, can measure signals down to the 0.1 pW (3 x 10⁵ photons second-1) level with 0.

Measurement of photon indistinguishability to a quantifiable uncertainty using a Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometer.

We present a method for using the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference technique to quantify photon indistinguishability within an associated uncertainty. The method allows the relative importance of various experimental factors affecting the HOM visibility to be identified, and enables the actual indistinguishability, with an associated uncertainty, to be estimated from experimentally measured quantities. A measurement equation has been derived that accounts for the non-ideal performance of the interferometer.