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0Generation, detection and characterization of ultralow energy
light
V.I. Kovalev1'2*
1- P.N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Leninsky pr. 53, Moscow, 119991, Russia
2- Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, UK
* kovalevvi@lebedev.ru
These days generation, detection and characterization of an ultralow energy light is a topic of wide interest in optical physics. Vast majority of correspondent studies presume "single photon" level of light energy. Such studies, however, look a tricky because the thing, which conventionally called "photon", is not defined. For example, A. Einstein pointed out in 1951 (letter to M. Besso): "These days, every lump thinks that he knows what a photon is, but he is wrong", W. Lamb noted in [1] that "there is no such thing as a photon. Only a comedy of errors and historical accidents led to its popularity among physicists and optical scientists." J. Eberly with colleagues [2] concluded that most of traditionally meant to be quantum phenomena can be seen, studied, accounted and exploited in frames of classical optics. In [3] V. Kovalev proposed a classical model for a sub-single photon detector operation. In this work a performance of the system made up of a "single-photon emitter", an optical pathway to a detector and a "single-photon detector" will be considered in frames of classical optics.
[1] W.E. Lamb Jr., Anti-photon, Appl. Phys. B, Lasers and Optics, 60, 77-84 (1985).
[2] X.-E. Qian, A.N. Vamivakas, J.H. Eberly, Emerging connections classical and quantum optics, OPN, 28, 34-41 (2017).
[3] V.I. Kovalev, Nature of Photoelectric Effect in a Ge-on-Si SPAD at Ultralow Energy in Incident Pulsed Laser Radiation, Optics, 2, 45-53 (2021).
