title: Mid-infrared single-photon counting.
abstract: We report a procedure to detect mid-infrared single photons at 4.65 microm by means of a two-stage scheme based on sum-frequency generation, by using a periodically poled lithium niobate nonlinear crystal and a silicon avalanche photodiode. An experimental investigation shows that, in addition to a high timing resolution, this technique yields a detection sensitivity of 1.24 pW with 63 mW of net pump power.
authors.affiliation: Group of Applied Physics, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. guilherme.temporao@physics.unige.ch
authors.forename: Guilherme
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Temporão
authors.forename: Sébastien
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tanzilli
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zbinden
authors.forename: Nicolas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gisin
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aellen
authors.forename: Marcella
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giovannini
authors.forename: Jérome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Faist