Ultrafast Single-Photon Detection based on Optical Kerr Gates

The generation and efficient detection of ultrafast single photons is at the forefront of modern optical science, and it offers an unprecedented set of capabilities, for instance, in the area of quantum information science, high-sensitivity detection, and remote sensing [1] - [3]. In addition, it provides a powerful analysis tool in the life sciences at the single-molecule level [4]. The detection of single photons is currently restricted by the limited time resolution (a few picoseconds) of the available single-photon detectors.