Abstract
Quantum measurements using single-photon detectors are opening interesting new perspectives in diverse fields such as remote sensing, quantum cryptography and quantum computing. A particularly demanding class of applications relies on the simultaneous detection of correlated single photons. In the visible and near infrared wavelength ranges suitable single-photon detectors do exist. However, low detector quantum efficiency or excessive noise has hampered their mid-infrared (MIR) counterpart. Fast and highly efficient single-photon detectors are thus highly sought after for MIR applications. Here we pave the way to quantum measurements in the MIR by the demonstration of a room temperature coincidence measurement with non-degenerate twin photons at about 3.1 μm. The experiment is based on the spectral translation of MIR radiation into the visible region, by means of efficient up-converter modules. The up-converted pairs are then detected with low-noise silicon avalanche photodiodes without the need for cryogenic cooling.
Highlights
Quantum measurements using single-photon detectors are opening interesting new perspectives in diverse fields such as remote sensing, quantum cryptography and quantum computing
We combine the up-converter module with a state-of-theart silicon single photon avalanche photodiode (SPAD) to demonstrate single-photon counting in the MIR for quantum optics applications
Compared to the superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) (Table 1), the quantum efficiency (QE) of this MIR single-photon detector is three times higher and the response time and timing jitter is primarily determined by the electronics of the silicon SPAD and not by the up-conversion process itself, which can be considered instantaneous at most time scales employed
Summary
Quantum measurements using single-photon detectors are opening interesting new perspectives in diverse fields such as remote sensing, quantum cryptography and quantum computing. In the visible and near infrared wavelength ranges suitable single-photon detectors do exist. The idea is to up-convert the infrared radiation into the visible domain by means of optical nonlinear effects[25] In this way, the incoming signal is wavelength-shifted to a wavelength interval where efficient and low-noise detectors are readily available and where the influence of unwanted incident room temperature radiation (Planck radiation) is strongly reduced. The incoming signal is wavelength-shifted to a wavelength interval where efficient and low-noise detectors are readily available and where the influence of unwanted incident room temperature radiation (Planck radiation) is strongly reduced This enables us to demonstrate coincidence measurements on correlated photon pairs at 3.1 mm
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