Characterisation of a single photon event camera for quantum imaging.

Area of Science:

• Quantum Imaging
• Photon Detection

Background:

• Characterizing single photon event cameras is crucial for advancing quantum imaging applications.
• Existing methods may not fully capture per-pixel performance or temporal resolution accurately.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a straightforward and effective method for characterizing the per-pixel quantum efficiency and temporal resolution of single photon event cameras.
• To evaluate the performance of the TPX3CAM camera system using this novel technique.

Main Methods:

• Utilized photon pairs generated via spontaneous parametric down-conversion.
• Employed coincidence measurements to extract per-pixel detection efficiency and system temporal resolution.
• Applied the method to characterize a TPX3CAM with an appended image intensifier.

Main Results:

• Measured an average quantum efficiency of [Formula: see text]% for the TPX3CAM system.
• Determined a temporal resolution of 7.3 nanoseconds for the evaluated camera.
• Identified critical error mechanisms inherent in post-processing techniques.

Conclusions:

• The developed method provides a simple yet effective means to characterize single photon event cameras.
• This technique is valuable for assessing quantum imaging systems and understanding potential errors.
• The findings are expected to benefit the characterization of other quantum imaging setups.