美国耶鲁大学Hong X. Tang团队研发了100像素光子数分辨探测器来揭示光子统计。相关论文于2022年12月19日发表在《自然—光子学》杂志上。

研究人员演示了一种片上探测器，它可以通过沿单个光波导的超导纳米线阵列进行时空多路复用来解析多达100个光子。无与伦比的光子数分辨率与高速响应相匹配，完全允许他们在前所未有的水平上揭示真正热光源的量子光子统计，这是通过直接测量高阶相关函数g^(N) (N的值高达15)，观察光子减少诱导的光子数增强和对相干光源的量子限制态鉴别来实现的。

他们的探测器为包括光子量子计算和量子计量在内的各种重要应用提供了可行的途径。

研究人员表示，单光子探测器在量子信息科学和量子传感中无处不在。它们是许多科学发现和量子光学基础测试的关键使能技术。光子数旋转探测器是光的终极测量工具。然而，到目前为止，很少有探测器能够在少光子水平上提供高保真的光子数分辨率。

附：英文原文

Title: A 100-pixel photon-number-resolving detector unveiling photon statistics

Author: Cheng, Risheng, Zhou, Yiyu, Wang, Sihao, Shen, Mohan, Taher, Towsif, Tang, Hong X.

Issue&Volume: 2022-12-19

Abstract: Single-photon detectors are ubiquitous in quantum information science and quantum sensing. They are key enabling technologies for numerous scientific discoveries and fundamental tests of quantum optics. Photon-number-revolving detectors are the ultimate measurement tool of light; however, few detectors so far can provide high-fidelity photon number resolution at few-photon levels. Here we demonstrate an on-chip detector that can resolve up to 100 photons by spatiotemporally multiplexing an array of superconducting nanowires along a single optical waveguide. The unparalleled photon number resolution paired with the high-speed response exclusively allows us to unveil the quantum photon statistics of a true thermal light source at an unprecedented level, which is realized by direct measurement of the higher-order correlation function g(N) (with values of N up to 15), observation of photon-subtraction-induced photon number enhancement and quantum-limited state discrimination against a coherent light source. Our detector provides a viable route towards various important applications, including photonic quantum computation and quantum metrology.

DOI: 10.1038/s41566-022-01119-3

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-022-01119-3