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arXiv · 1209.2747

Ultrasensitive N-photon interferometric autocorrelator

Zili Zhou·Giulia Frucci·Francesco Mattioli·Alessandro Gaggero·Roberto Leoni·Saeedeh Jahanmirinejad·Thang Ba Hoang·Andrea Fiore
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Abstract

We demonstrate a novel method to measure the Nth-order (N=1, 2, 3, 4) interferometric autocorrelation with high sensitivity and temporal resolution. It is based on the combination of linear absorption and nonlinear detection in a superconducting nanodetector, providing much higher efficiency than methods based on all-optical nonlinearities. Its temporal resolution is only limited by the quasi-particle energy relaxation time, which is directly measured to be in the 20 ps range for the NbN films used in this work. We present a general model of interferometric autocorrelation with these nonlinear detectors and discuss the comparison with other approaches and possible improvements.

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Zili Zhou, Giulia Frucci, Francesco Mattioli, Alessandro Gaggero, Roberto Leoni, Saeedeh Jahanmirinejad, Thang Ba Hoang, Andrea Fiore. 2012-09-12. Ultrasensitive N-photon interferometric autocorrelator. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.110.133605

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