We present experimental results on a method to perform polarimetry on ensembles of single photons. Our setup is based on a measurement method known to be optimal for estimating the state of two level systems. The setup has no moving parts and is sensitive to weak sources (emitting single photons) of light as it relies on photon counting and has potential applications in both classical polarizat...

We report a procedure to detect mid-infrared single photons at 4.65 microm by means of a two-stage scheme based on sum-frequency generation, by using a periodically poled lithium niobate nonlinear crystal and a silicon avalanche photodiode. An experimental investigation shows that, in addition to a high timing resolution, this technique yields a detection sensitivity of 1.24 pW with 63 mW of ne...

Time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy is a powerful analysis tool in fundamental physics as well as in the life sciences. Implementing it in the time domain requires recording the time dependent intensity profile of the emitted light upon excitation by a short flash of light, typically a laser pulse. While in principle, one could attempt to record the time decay profile of the signal from a s...

We report on the development of dual-color photon-counting histogram (PCH) analysis. Dual-color PCH is an extension of regular PCH and considers the photon counts received in two detection channels instead of one. Because each detection channel records a different color, dual-color PCH distinguishes fluorescent species not only by differences in their brightness, but also according to their col...

Today's data-driven society demands high data rates and high-rate communication links. Addressing these needs in everything from gigabit Ethernet network connections and telephone or cable television signals to communication between spacecraft can require high bandwidth, high power, large transmit or receive apertures or both, and high receiver sensitivity. Optical communication is attractive f...

We present the design and characterization of a microelectronic chip consisting 32 independent single-photon counting multi-photon time-coincidence channels, based on Single Photon Avalanche Diodes (SPADs). The aims at easing assembly together with Silicon Photonics substrates chips, for broad spectrum quantum applications. provides not only pulse outputs multi-channel counting, but it features...

A novel photon flux monitor has been designed and tested for use at the Duke University High Intensity Gamma Source, where the photon beam produced is essentially mono-energetic but it is not tagged. Direct counting of the number of photons using a high-efficiency detector is not possible because of the high photon fluxes expected. Therefore, a direct counting detector with a low, accurately kn...

NASA communications roadmaps look to space based optical communications to fulfill future high data rate link requirements with minimal spacecraft burden and freedom from current RF spectrum restrictions. Efficient optical links for data rates from 10’s to over 1000 megabits per second require complementary and synchronized development of numerous subsystem technologies. We report recent develo...

In this paper, we review three-dimensional (3D) photon counting imaging with axially distributed sensing. Under severely photon-starved conditions, we have proposed various imaging and algorithmic approaches to reconstruct a scene in 3D, which are not possible by using conventional imaging system due to lack of sufficient number of photons. In this paper, we present an overview of optical sensi...