These simple devices operate at 940nm and work well for generic IR systems including remote control and touch-less object sensing. Using a simple ADC on any microcontroller will allow variable readings to be collected from the detector. The emitter is driven up to 50mA with a current limiting resistor as with any LED device.

Emitter is the transparent one, which needs a 510R current limit resistor. The long leg is postive.

Receiver is the black one, which needs a 100K resistor. The long leg is positve.