Abstract

We demonstrate experimentally ultrafast three-photon counting by three-photon absorption in a GaAsP photomultiplier tube at the wavelength range of $1800–1900\mathrm{nm}$, and analyze its sensitivity and time response. Pulse energy of $\sim 500\mathrm{fJ}$ is shown to be detectable for ultrafast $170\mathrm{fs}$ pulses. The presented three-photon counter may serve as a unique tool for ultrafast quantum state characterization as well as for ultrasensitive third-order temporal measurements.

© 2011 Optical Society of America

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