Experimental reconstruction of photon statistics without photon counting
arXiv:quant-ph/0502060 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.95.063602
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 photodetection 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 multimode beams.
Revised version: in press on PRL. 4 pages, 4 figs