Two-photon photocurrent autocorrelation using intersubband transitions at nearly-resonant excitation

We investigate nonlinear mid-infrared detection via two-photon transitions involving two bound subbands and one continuum resonance in an n-type multiple quantum well. By varying the excitation energy, we have tuned the two-photon transition from resonant, yielding optimum resonant enhancement with a real intermediate state, to nearly-resonant, with a virtual but resonantly enhanced intermediate state. For autocorrelation purposes, the latter configuration improves time resolution whilst partially retaining a resonant enhancement of the two-photon transition strength.