title: Measurement of the photon statistics and the noise figure of a fiber-optic parametric amplifier.
abstract: We report measurement of the noise statistics of spontaneous parametric fluorescence in a fiber parametric amplifier with single-mode, single-photon resolution. We employ optical homodyne tomography for this purpose, which also provides a self-calibrating measurement of the noise figure of the amplifier. The measured photon statistics agree with quantum-mechanical predictions, and the amplifier's noise figure is found to be almost quantum limited.
authors.affiliation: Center for Photonic Communication and Computing, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3118, USA.
authors.forename: Paul L
authors.initials: PL
authors.lastname: Voss
authors.forename: Renyong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Prem
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kumar