Mid-infrared homodyne balanced detector for quantum light characterization

TL;DR

This paper introduces a high-performance mid-infrared balanced homodyne detector capable of revealing non-classical light properties, with potential applications in quantum communication.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel mid-infrared balanced homodyne detector that is shot-noise limited and suitable for quantum light characterization.

Findings

The detector operates in the mid-infrared range.

It is shot-noise limited in intensity noise measurements.

Potential applications in quantum technologies like free-space quantum communication.

Abstract

We present the characterization of a novel balanced homodyne detector operating in the mid-infrared. The challenging task of revealing non-classicality in mid-infrared light, e.~g. in quantum cascade lasers emission, requires a high-performance detection system. Through the intensity noise power spectral density analysis of the differential signal coming from the incident radiation, we show that our setup is shot-noise limited. We discuss the experimental results with a view to possible applications to quantum technologies, such as free-space quantum communication.