Mid-Infrared Photon Counting by Intra-Cavity Up-Conversion for LIDAR

Abstract

In range resolved differential absorption LIDAR for gas concentration measurement, an attractive solution would be mid-infrared (MIR) micro-pulse LIDAR with photon counting detection. Single-photon detection in MIR is, however, difficult because of the low photon energy. Both superconducting nanowire detectors and low bandgap APDs need cryogenic cooling and are still limited to wavelengths shorter than approximately 2.5 μm.