Abstract: Approaches, apparatuses and methods for single photon sensitive, non-interferometric photonics vibrometry applications based on quantum parametric mode sorting, optical gating and single photon counting are disclosed. In one embodiment, a controller module includes a photon detection unit, a pulse generator unit, a time synchronization unit, a data acquisition and processing unit and a central controller unit. In the second embodiment, a probe module with beam raster scanning ability includes an optical transceiver unit based on a bidirectional monostatic coaxial arrangement using off-the-shelf optical components and an optical beam steering device.

Abstract: A spectroscope using single-photon counters and a chip-integrated lithium niobate micro-ring filter to measure the atmospheric CO2 absorption spectrum passively is disclosed. By thermo-optically sweeping the filter over 150 pm and referencing the resulting photon counts to a bypass channel, the absorption spectrum can be sampled at an ultrahigh-resolution of 6 pm. The spectroscope can be a part of a ground-based field system, wherein the CO2 absorption through the atmosphere can be characterized by counting the solar photons across the absorption line around 1572.02 nm, which agrees well with its transmission spectrum at standard atmospheric pressure.