We present the characterization of a novel balanced homodyne detector operating in mid-infrared. The challenging task revealing non-classicality mid-infrared light, e.~g. quantum cascade lasers emission, requires high-performance detection system. Through intensity noise power spectral density analysis differential signal coming from incident radiation, we show that our setup is shot-noise limi...

Detectors play a key role in an astronomical observatory. In astronomy, the role of the telescope and instrument is to bring light to a focus in effect, the telescope-instrument act as “spectacles”. The detectors, meanwhile, have the critical role of sensing the light the detectors are the “eyes” of an observatory. The performance of an astronomical observatory is directly dependent upon the pe...

We report on a broadband GaAs/AlAs superlattice detector for THz radiation; a THz field reduces the current through a superlattice, which is carried by miniband electrons, due to modulation of the Bloch oscillations of the miniband electrons. We studied the detector response, by use of a free electron laser, in a large frequency range ~5–12 THz!. The responsivity showed strong minima at frequen...

We implement a photon-counting Optical Time Domain Reflectometer (OTDR) at 1.55mum which exhibits a high 2-point resolution and a high accuracy. It is based on a low temporal-jitter photon-counting module at 1.55mum. This detector is composed of a periodically poled Lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide, which provides a wavelength conversion from near infrared to visible light, and a low jitter sil...