Mid-infrared photodetection in an AIGaAs/GaAs quantum-well infrared photodetector using photoinduced noise

摘要

We propose a new way to assess the output signal of a quantum-well infrared photodetector (QWIP). Instead of measuring the photocurrent produced by the device, as usually done, we show that the noise induced by the absorption process can be used to generate a useful detection signal. We built a simple electronic circuit able to quantify the noise of an AIGaAs/GaAs QWIP that was intentionally designed to produce no photocurrent at all, and we demonstrated that such a circuit was able to generate a strong output signal whenever an infrared radiation of a specific wavelength was shed on the detector. This concept opens new possibilities for the design of novel types of photodetection systems.