Infrared quantum counting by nondegenerate two photon conductivity in GaAs
Fabien Boitier, Jean-Baptiste Dherbecourt, Antoine Godard, E. Rosencher · Applied Physics Letters · 2009
We report on infrared quantum counting of photons at optical communication wavelengths based on nondegenerate two-photon absorption in a GaAs photomultiplier tube. The detected photon energy is lower than the GaAs band gap and the energy difference is complemented by a high intensity pump field. This detection setup is simple, compact, has a broad spectral bandwidth, and benefits from the intrinsic low noise and dark counts of large band gap semiconductor junctions.