Numerical investigation of mid-infrared single-photon generation

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 ne...

Next-generation mid-infrared sources

The mid-infrared (mid-IR) is a wavelength range with a variety of technologically vital applications in molecular sensing, security and defense, energy conservation, and potentially in free-space communication. The recent development and rapid commercialization of new coherent mid-infrared sources have spurred significant interest in the development of mid-infrared optical systems for the above...

Near-Infrared Single-Photon Detection

An investigation of harmonic generation in liquid media with a mid-infrared laser.

We present a harmonic generation experiment using liquid H(2)O and D(2)O interrogated by a mid-infrared, 3.66 mum, laser at a maximum intensity of 8x10(13) W/cm(2). The unique aspects of the experiment include the long wavelength and short (9 cycle-110 fs) pulse duration of the laser as well as the near-resonant excitation of the H(2)O and D(2)O vibrational modes. We observe up to the 13th harm...

Infrared single-photon detection by two-photon absorption in silicon

We propose a scheme for infrared single-photon detection based on two-photon absorption at room temperature in Si avalanche photodiodes, where the detected photon’s energy is lower than the band gap and the energy difference is complemented by a pump field. A quantum nonperturbative model is developed for nondegenerate two-photon absorption in direct and indirect semiconductors yielding proper ...