Mid-infrared high-resolution photon-counting LiDAR
Mid-infrared (MIR) detection at the single-photon limit has become increasingly accessible, enabling applications in free-space communications, industrial sensing, astronomy, and biomedicine. However, direct time-correlated single photon-counting in the MIR remains a significant challenge. Here, we demonstrate single-pixel scanning light detection and ranging (LiDAR) at 3500 nm wavelength with sub-millimeter depth resolution in the single-photon regime, enabled by a differential impedance-matched tungsten silicide (WSi) superconducting nanowire single-photon detector (SNSPD), optimized for MIR detection, and an optical parametric oscillator (OPO) laser source. The detector’s exceptional timing performance is demonstrated by resolving sub-millimeter depth features of a target positioned 100 mm from the transceiver. In addition, we present the wavelength-dependent photoresponse and timing jitter of the device across a 1550–5438 nm wavelength range. The photon-counting MIR LiDAR system shown features extremely wide broadband operation, high timing performance, and single-photon sensitivity. This work demonstrates the potential of MIR time-correlated single photon-counting applications enabled by SNSPDs.
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Kuznesof, D., Amer, N., Taylor, G. G., Patel, S. R., Bumble, B., Craiciu, I., Choudhary, N., Choi, B., Morozov, D. V., Korzh, B., Shaw, M. D., Wollman, E. E., Chong, Y., & Hadfield, R. H. (2025). Mid-infrared high-resolution photon-counting LiDAR. Optics Express, 33(22), 45684–45694. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.576861
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