Photonic quantum technologies require single photon sources and detectors operating at high efficiency, but at high rates detector imperfections can lead to inaccurate measurements. We show that the combination of the detector deadtime and the source statistics together determine the saturation level of a single photon detector, with anti-bunched sources leading to a greater detection rate than coherent or thermal light of the same intensity. At high photon rates this behavior distorts second-, third- and fourth- order correlation measurements, in agreement with our numerical simulations. Finally, we discuss the implications for entangled light detection and photonic logic.
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