{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,12]],"date-time":"2026-03-12T15:28:21Z","timestamp":1773329301745,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,24]],"date-time":"2021-08-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1629763200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Broadband, high-resolution, heterodyne, mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy was performed with a high-speed quantum cascade (QC) detector. By strictly reducing the device capacitance and inductance via air-bridge wiring and a small mesa structure, a 3-dB frequency response over 20 GHz was obtained for the QC detector, which had a 4.6-\u03bcm peak wavelength response. In addition to the high-speed, it exhibited low noise characteristics limited only by Johnson\u2013Nyquist noise, bias-free operation without cooling, and photoresponse linearity over a wide dynamic range. In the detector characterization, the noise-equivalent power was 7.7 \u00d7 10\u221211 W\/Hz1\/2 at 4.6 \u03bcm, and it had good photoresponse linearity up to 250 mW, with respect to the input light power. Broadband and high-accuracy molecular spectroscopy based on heterodyne detection was demonstrated by means of two distributed-feedback 4.5-\u03bcm QC lasers. Specifically, several nitrous oxide absorption lines were acquired over a wavelength range of 0.8 cm\u22121 with the wide-band QC detector.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21175706","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,24]],"date-time":"2021-08-24T22:09:39Z","timestamp":1629842979000},"page":"5706","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Application of High-Speed Quantum Cascade Detectors for Mid-Infrared, Broadband, High-Resolution Spectroscopy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8093-8001","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tatsuo","family":"Dougakiuchi","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Central Research Laboratory, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., 5000 Hirakuchi, Hamakita-ku, Hamamatsu City 434-8601, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Naota","family":"Akikusa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laser Promotion Division, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., 5000 Hirakuchi, Hamakita-ku, Hamamatsu City 434-8601, Japan"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hofstetter, D., Beck, M., and Faist, J. (2002). Quantum-cascade-laser structures as photodetectors. Appl. Phys. Lett., 81.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.1512954"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gendron, L., Carras, M., Huynh, A., Ortiz, V., Koeniguer, C., and Berger, V. (2004). Quantum cascade photodetector. Appl. Phys. Lett., 85.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.1781731"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Levine, B.F. (1993). Quantum-well infrared photodetectors. J. Appl. Phys., 74.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.354252"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"553","DOI":"10.1126\/science.264.5158.553","article-title":"Quantum Cascade Laser","volume":"264","author":"Faist","year":"1994","journal-title":"Science"},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Graf, M., Hoyler, N., Giovannini, M., Faist, J., and Hofstetter, D. (2006). InP-based quantum cascade detectors in the mid-infrared. Appl. Phys. Lett., 88.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.2210088"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Reininger, P., Schwarz, B., Detz, H., MacFarland, D., Zederbauer, T., Andrews, A.M., Schrenk, W., Baumgartner, O., Kosina, H., and Strasser, G. (2014). Diagonal-transition quantum cascade detector. Appl. Phys. Lett., 105.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.4894767"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dougakiuchi, T., Fujita, K., Hirohata, T., Ito, A., Hitaka, M., and Edamura, T. (2016). High photoresponse in room temperature quantum cascade detector based on coupled quantum well design. Appl. Phys. Lett., 109.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.4973582"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Giorgetta, F.R., Baumann, E., Hofstetter, D., Manz, C., Yang, Q., K\u00f6hler, K., and Graf, M. (2007). InGaAs\/AlAsSb quantum cascade detectors operating in the near infrared. Appl. Phys. Lett., 91.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.2784289"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Graf, M., Scalari, G., Hofstetter, D., Faist, J., Beere, H., Linfield, E., Ritchie, D., and Davies, G. (2004). Terahertz quantum well infrared photodetector. Appl. Phys. Lett., 84.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.1641165"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Vardi, A., Sakr, S., Mangeney, J., Kandaswamy, P.K., Monroy, E., Tchernycheva, M., Schacham, S.E., Julien, F.H., and Bahir, G. (2011). Femto-second electron transit time characterization in GaN\/AlGaN quantum cascade detector at 1.5 micron. Appl. Phys. Lett., 99.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.3660583"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dougakiuchi, T., Ito, A., Hitaka, M., Fujita, K., and Yamanishi, M. (2021). Ultimate response time in mid-infrared high-speed low-noise quantum cascade detectors. Appl. Phys. Lett., 118.","DOI":"10.1063\/5.0038147"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"5774","DOI":"10.1364\/OE.417976","article-title":"High-speed quantum cascade detector characterized with a mid-infrared femtosecond oscillator","volume":"29","author":"Hillbrand","year":"2021","journal-title":"Opt. Express"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sorokina, I.T., and Vodopyanov, K.L. (2003). Mid-Infrared Laser Applications in Spectroscopy. Solid-State Mid-Infrared Laser Sources, Springer. [1st ed.].","DOI":"10.1007\/3-540-36491-9"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Du, Z., Zhang, S., Li, J., Gao, N., and Tong, K. (2019). Mid-Infrared Tunable Laser-Based Broadband Fingerprint Absorption Spectroscopy for Trace Gas Sensing: A Review. Appl. Sci., 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/app9020338"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"635","DOI":"10.1098\/rsta.2000.0747","article-title":"Mid-infrared laser applications in medicine and biology","volume":"359","author":"Waynant","year":"2001","journal-title":"Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"529","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jare.2014.09.002","article-title":"Mid-infrared laser-spectroscopic sensing of chemical species","volume":"6","author":"Sigrist","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Adv. Res."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"165","DOI":"10.1364\/OPTICA.6.000165","article-title":"Mid-infrared dual-comb spectroscopy of volatile organic compounds across long open-air paths","volume":"6","author":"Ycas","year":"2019","journal-title":"Optica"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Gong, Y., Bu, L., Yang, B., and Mustafa, F. (2020). High Repetition Rate Mid-Infrared Differential Absorption Lidar for Atmospheric Pollution Detection. Sensors, 20.","DOI":"10.3390\/s20082211"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"575","DOI":"10.1364\/OL.8.000575","article-title":"Optical heterodyne spectroscopy with frequency- and amplitude-modulated semiconductor lasers","volume":"8","author":"Lenth","year":"1983","journal-title":"Opt. Lett."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Piotrowski, A., and Piotrowski, J. (2012, January 9\u201312). Uncooled infrared detectors in Poland, history and recent progress. Proceedings of the 26th European Conference on Solid-State Transducers (Eurosensors), Krakow, Poland.","DOI":"10.1016\/j.proeng.2012.09.438"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dougakiuchi, T., and Edamura, T. (2019, January 12). High-speed quantum cascade detector with frequency response of over 20 GHz. Proceedings of the SPIE Future Sensing Technologies, Tokyo, Japan.","DOI":"10.1117\/12.2542649"},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hofstetter, D., Graf, M., Aellen, T., Faist, J., Hvozdara, L., and Blaser, S. (2006). 23 GHz operation of a room temperature photovoltaic quantum cascade detector at 5.35 \u03bcm. Appl. Phys. Lett., 89.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.2269408"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"249","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jqsrt.2017.06.007","article-title":"SpectraPlot.com: Integrated spectroscopic modeling of atomic and molecular gases","volume":"200","author":"Goldenstein","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. Quant. Spectrosc. Radiat. Transf."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"(2021, May 31). SpectraPlot. Available online: https:\/\/www.spectraplot.com\/."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Choi, H., Diehl, L., Wu, Z.K., Giovannini, M., Faist, J., Capasso, F., and Norris, T.B. (2008). Gain Recovery Dynamics and Photon-Driven Transport in Quantum Cascade Lasers. Phys. Rev. Lett., 100.","DOI":"10.1103\/PhysRevLett.100.167401"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Talukder, M.A. (2011). Modeling of gain recovery of quantum cascade lasers. J. Appl. Phys., 109.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.3544201"},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhai, S.Q., Liu, J.Q., Liu, F.Q., and Wang, Z.G. (2012). A normal incident quantum cascade detector enhanced by surface plasmons. Appl. Phys. Lett., 100.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.4710523"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Reininger, P., Schwarz, B., Harrer, A., Zederbauer, T., Detz, H., Andrews, A.M., Gansch, R., Schrenk, W., and Strasser, G. (2013). Photonic crystal slab quantum cascade detector. Appl. Phys. Lett., 103.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.4846035"},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, F.J., Zhuo, N., Liu, S.M., Ren, F., Ning, Z.D., Ye, X.L., Liu, J.Q., Zhai, S.Q., Liu, F.Q., and Wang, Z.G. (2016). Temperature independent infrared responsivity of a quantum dot quantum cascade detector. Appl. Phys. Lett., 108.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.4954392"},{"key":"ref_30","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"85","DOI":"10.1038\/nature25790","article-title":"Room-temperature nine-\u03bcm-wavelength photodetectors and GHz-frequency heterodyne receivers","volume":"556","author":"Palaferri","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nature"},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Harrer, A., Schwarz, B., Schuler, S., Reininger, P., Wirthm\u00fcller, A., Detz, H., MacFarland, D., Zederbauer, T., Andrews, A.M., and Rothermund, M. (2016). 4.3 \u03bcm quantum cascade detector in pixel configuration. Opt. Express, 24.","DOI":"10.1364\/OE.24.017041"},{"key":"ref_32","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kawai, A., Hashimoto, K., Dougakiuchi, T., Badarla, V.R., Imamura, T., Edamura, T., and Ideguchi, T. (2020). Time-stretch infrared spectroscopy. Commun. Phys., 3.","DOI":"10.1038\/s42005-020-00420-3"},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1007\/s10297-005-0052-2","article-title":"Quantum cascade laser-based free space optical communications","volume":"2","author":"Martini","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Opt. Fiber. Commun. Rep."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3646","DOI":"10.1364\/OL.42.003646","article-title":"Gigabit free-space multi-level signal transmission with a mid-infrared quantum cascade laser operating at room temperature","volume":"42","author":"Pang","year":"2017","journal-title":"Opt. Lett."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Weidmann, D., Reburn, W.J., and Smith, K.M. (2007). Ground-based prototype quantum cascade laser heterodyne radiometer for atmospheric studies. Rev. Sci. Instrum., 78.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.2753141"},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wang, Y., Soskind, M.G., Wang, W., and Wysocki, G. (2014). High-resolution multi-heterodyne spectroscopy based on Fabry-Perot quantum cascade lasers. Appl. Phys. Lett., 104.","DOI":"10.1063\/1.4862756"},{"key":"ref_37","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1147","DOI":"10.1007\/s11082-013-9731-z","article-title":"Low-threshold, high SMSR tunable external cavity quantum cascade laser around 4.7 \u03bcm","volume":"45","author":"Tan","year":"2013","journal-title":"Opt. Quant. Electron."},{"key":"ref_38","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dougakiuchi, T., Fujita, K., Akikusa, N., Sugiyama, A., Edamura, T., and Yamanishi, M. (2011). Broadband Tuning of External Cavity Dual-Upper-State Quantum-Cascade Lasers in Continuous Wave Operation. Appl. Phys. Express, 4.","DOI":"10.1143\/APEX.4.102101"},{"key":"ref_39","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2792","DOI":"10.1364\/OL.32.002792","article-title":"Room-temperature continuous-wave operation of an external-cavity quantum cascade laser","volume":"32","author":"Mohan","year":"2007","journal-title":"Opt. Lett."},{"key":"ref_40","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"19930","DOI":"10.1364\/OE.22.019930","article-title":"Broadband tuning of continuous wave quantum cascade lasers in long wavelength (>10 \u03bcm) range","volume":"22","author":"Dougakiuchi","year":"2014","journal-title":"Opt. Express"},{"key":"ref_41","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"248","DOI":"10.1364\/OE.17.000248","article-title":"High-resolution broadband (>100 cm\u22121) infrared heterodyne spectro-radiometry using an external cavity quantum cascade laser","volume":"17","author":"Weidmann","year":"2009","journal-title":"Opt. Express"},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"440","DOI":"10.1038\/nphoton.2012.142","article-title":"Mid-infrared frequency combs","volume":"6","author":"Schliesser","year":"2012","journal-title":"Nat. Photonics"}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/21\/17\/5706\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T06:50:54Z","timestamp":1760165454000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/21\/17\/5706"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,24]]},"references-count":42,"journal-issue":{"issue":"17","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9]]}},"alternative-id":["s21175706"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s21175706","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1424-8220","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2021,8,24]]}}}