title: Experimental reconstruction of photon statistics without photon counting.
abstract: Experimental reconstructions of photon number distributions of both continuous-wave and pulsed light beams are reported. Our scheme is based on on/off avalanche photo-detection assisted by maximum-likelihood estimation and does not involve photon counting. Reconstructions of the distribution for both semiclassical and quantum states of light are reported for single-mode as well as for multi-mode beams.
authors.affiliation: Istituto Nazionale per la Fisica della Materia, INFM and Dipartimento di Fisica e Matematica, Università degli Studi dell'Insubria, Como, Italia.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Zambra
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andreoni
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bondani
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gramegna
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Genovese
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Brida
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Matteo G A
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Paris