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Experimental Study of High Sensitivity Infrared Spectrometer with Waveguide-Based Up-Conversion Detector

Published

Author(s)

Lijun Ma, Oliver T. Slattery, Xiao Tang

Abstract

We developed an up-conversion spectrometer for signals at single photon levels near the infrared region based on a tunable up-conversion detector which uses a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide as the conversion medium. We also experimentally studied its characteristics including sensitivity, dark count rate, spectral scan speed, the signal transfer function of the waveguide, and polarization sensitivity. The overall single photon detection efficiency of the up-conversion spectrometer is about 32%. With its ultra high sensitivity the spectrometer can measure spectra for signals at a level as low as -126 dBm. We demonstrated its high sensitivity by measuring the spectrum of a greatly attenuated multimode emission from a laser diode at the 1310-nm band.
Citation
Optics Express

Keywords

frequency up-conversion, infrared spectrometer, photon detection

Citation

Ma, L. , Slattery, O. and Tang, X. (2009), Experimental Study of High Sensitivity Infrared Spectrometer with Waveguide-Based Up-Conversion Detector, Optics Express, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=902714 (Accessed April 20, 2024)
Created August 2, 2009, Updated October 12, 2021