Choosing a photoemissive detector suitable for photon-number statistics of pulsed fields

We investigate the possibility of using linear detectors that exhibit a response to dark just resolved from that corresponding to a single detected photon to reconstruct the photon-number statistics of pulsed fields containing sizeable numbers of photons per pulse. We demonstrate that by applying a self-consistent procedure to analyze the output pulses of such detectors, we can properly measure statistical distributions of the number of detected photons and photon number correlations. The lack of fulfillment of such minimal requirements impairs the possibility of reliable shot-by-shot determinations of photon numbers. © 2011 World Scientific Publishing Company.