Single Photon Interferometry and Quantum Astrophysics

abstract: This thesis contains an overview, as well as the history of optical interferometers. A new approach to interferometric measurements of stars is proposed and explored. Modern updates to the classic techniques are described along with some theoretical derivations showing why the method of single photon counting shows significant promise relative to the currently used amplitude interferometry. Description of a modular intensity interferometer system using commercially available single-photon detectors is given. Calculations on the sensitivity and \emph{uv}-plane coverage using these modules mounted on existing telescopes on Kitt Peak, Arizona is presented. Determining fundamental stellar properties is essential for testing models of stellar evolution as well as for deriving physical properties of transiting exoplanets. The proposed method shows great promise in measuring the angular size of stars. Simulations indicate that it is possible to measure stellar diameters of bright stars with AB magnitude 5% in a single night of observation. Additionally, a description is given of a custom time-to-digital converter designed to time tag individual photons from multiple single-photon detectors with high count rate, continuous data logging, and low systematics. The instrument utilizes a tapped-delay line approach on an FPGA chip which allows for sub-clock resolution of