Mid-infrared single-photon counting.
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.
Temporão
Guilherme
G
Group of Applied Physics, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland. guilherme.temporao@physics.unige.ch
Tanzilli
Sébastien
S
Zbinden
Hugo
H
Gisin
Nicolas
N
Aellen
Thierry
T
Giovannini
Marcella
M
Faist
Jérome
J