Direct measurement of the photon statistics of a triggered single photon source.
We studied intensity fluctuations of a single photon source relying on the pulsed excitation of the fluorescence of a single molecule at room temperature. We directly measured the Mandel parameter Q(T) over 4 orders of magnitude of observation time scale T by recording every photocount. On time scale of a few excitation periods, sub-Poissonian statistics is clearly observed and the probablility of two-photons events is 10 times smaller than Poissonian pulses. On longer times, blinking in the fluorescence, due to the molecular triplet state, produces an excess of noise.
Laboratoire de Photonique Quantique et Moléculaire, ENS Cachan, 61 Avenue du Président Wilson, 94235 Cachan Cedex, France. treusser@physique.ens-cachan.fr
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Treussart
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Alléaume
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Le Floc'h
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LT
Xiao
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Courty
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Roch