Providing reference standards and metrology for the few photon–photon counting community

Abstract The main drivers for developing few-photon metrological techniques are the rapidly progressing field of quantum information processing, which requires the development of high-efficiency photon-counting detectors, and the wider use of photon-counting technology in biology, medical physics and nuclear physics. This paper will focus on the provision of standards for the few photon community and the development of techniques for the characterisation of photon-counting detectors. At the high-power end, microwatts, we are developing a low-power absolute radiometer as a primary standard that will be used to provide traceability over a much broader spectral range. At the few photon–photon-counting level we are developing a conventional calibration technique, which is traceable to the primary standard through a reference trap detector. This method can be used in both analogue and photon-counting modes and provides a convenient route for providing customer calibration at few-photon levels across the optical spectrum. At the photon-counting/single-photon level we are developing a technique based on correlated photons. These are produced via parametric downconversion and can be used to measure directly the detection efficiency of photon-counting detectors. A cross-validation of the correlated photon and conventional technique is reported. Finally we discuss this work in the context of an EU project, that is aimed at establishing the route towards the re-definition of the candela, the SI unit for optical radiation.