Mid-infrared coincidence measurements on twin photons at room temperature.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28504244.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms15184 and PMC identifier 5440726.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
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.