title: Photostatistics reconstruction via loop detector signatures.
abstract: Photon-number resolving detectors are a fundamental building-block of optical quantum information processing protocols. A loop detector, combined with appropriate statistical processing, can be used to convert a binary on/off photon counter into a photon-number-resolving detector. Here we describe the idea of a signature of photon-counts, which may be used to more robustly reconstruct the photon number distribution of a quantum state. The methodology is applied experimentally in a 9-port loop detector operating at a telecommunications wavelength and compared directly to the approach whereby only the number of photon-counts is used to reconstruct the input distribution. The signature approach is shown to be more robust against calibration errors, exhibit reduced statistical uncertainty, and reduced reliance on a-priori assumptions about the input state.
authors: Centre for Quantum Computer Technology, School of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University College, The University of New South Wales, Canberra, ACT 2600. james.webb@adfa.edu.au
authors: J G
authors: JG
authors: Webb
authors: E H
authors: EH
authors: Huntington