Physics

Infrared

Lidar

Laser

Optics

Absorption (acoustics)

Photon

Materials science

Photonics

Optical parametric oscillator

Photon counting

Near-infrared spectroscopy

Optoelectronics

Wavelength

Nanowire

Detector

Optics Express

In this work, we show a proof-of-principle benchtop single-photon light detection and ranging (LIDAR) depth imager at 2.3µm, utilizing superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs).We fabricate and fiber-couple SNSPDs to exhibit enhanced photon counting performance in the mid-infrared.We present characterization results using an optical parametric oscillator source and deploy these detectors in a scanning LIDAR setup at 2.3µm wavelength.This demonstrates the viability of these detectors for future free-space photon counting applications in the mid-infrared where atmospheric absorption and background solar flux are low.

Photon counting LIDAR at 23µm wavelength with superconducting nanowires