Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1010.2104 · Physical Review Letters

Quantum Optical Waveform Conversion

D. Kielpinski, Joel Frederick Corney, Howard M. Wiseman

Published Mar 29, 2011• 105 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Proposals for long-distance quantum communication rely on the entanglement of matter-based quantum nodes through optical communications channels, but the entangling light pulses have poor temporal behavior in current experiments. Here we show that nonlinear mixing of a quantum light pulse with a spectrally tailored classical field can compress the quantum pulse by more than a factor of 100 and flexibly reshape its temporal waveform while preserving all quantum properties, including entanglement. Our scheme paves the way for quantum communication at the full data rate of optical telecommunications.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.106.130501

Related papers

Programmable optical waveform reshaping on a picosecond timescale

Paritosh Manurkar, Nitin Jain, Prem Kumar +1 more

We experimentally demonstrate the temporal reshaping of optical waveforms in the telecom wavelength band using the principle of quantum frequency conversion. The reshaped optical pulses do not undergo any wavelength translation. The interaction takes place in a nonlinear chi((2)) waveguide using an appropriately designed pump pulse programmed via an optical waveform generator. We show the reshaping of a single-peak pulse into a double-peak pulse and vice versa. We also show that exponentially decaying pulses can be reshaped into a near Gaussian shape, and vice versa, which is a useful functionality for quantum communications. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America

•Jan 1, 2017•6 citations

Towards Spectral Matching of Photons from Dissimliar Sources for Quantum Interference

Luis Matheis, Jan Krzyżanowski, Gregor Weihs +2 more

For the realization of a hybrid quantum network, an efficient spectral mode matching between dissimilar photon sources is quintessential. With nonlinear frequency conversion it has already been shown it is possible to match central frequencies [1], but not spectral bandwidth. Previous experiments relied on passive filtering for bandwidth matching [2], [3] and were suffering from too high loss rates to allow for an efficient information transfer and processing between different quantum light sources. Promising results in spectral bandwidth conversion of quantum light have been shown by a phase-only reshaping approach using electro-optic time lensing [4], [5]. In close analogy to a thin lens in space, first a quadratic spectral phase$\phi$is applied, followed by, an again quadratic, temporal phase$\varphi$. By choosing the right collimation condition,$\phi=\varphi^{-1}$, compression (or expansion) is achieved in spectral width [6]. By this active reshaping of the spectral-temporal wave packet, for a quantum light source in telecom wavelength a compression factor of about 50 has already been shown [5].

Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 23, 2025•0 citations

Programmable optical waveform reshaping on a picosecond timescale

Paritosh Manurkar, Nitin Jain, Prem Kumar +1 more

We experimentally demonstrate the temporal reshaping of optical waveforms in the telecom wavelength band using the principle of quantum frequency conversion. The reshaped optical pulses do not undergo any wavelength translation. The interaction takes place in a nonlinear χ(2) waveguide using an appropriately designed pump pulse programmed via an optical waveform generator. We show the reshaping of a single-peak pulse into a double-peak pulse and vice versa. We also show that exponentially decaying pulses can be reshaped into a near Gaussian shape, and vice versa, which is a useful functionality for quantum communications.

arXiv:1612.03263•Optics Letters•Feb 22, 2017•11 citations

Tailoring nonlinear processes for quantum optics with pulsed temporal-mode encodings

Vahid Ansari, John M. Donohue, Benjamin Brecht +1 more

The time-frequency degree of freedom is a powerful resource for implementing high-dimensional quantum information processing. In particular, field-orthogonal pulsed temporal modes offer a flexible framework compatible with both long-distance fibre networks and integrated waveguide devices. In order for this architecture to be fully utilised, techniques to reliably generate diverse quantum states of light and accurately measure complex temporal waveforms must be developed. To this end, nonlinear processes mediated by spectrally shaped pump pulses in group-velocity engineered waveguides and crystals provide a capable toolbox. In this review, we examine how tailoring the phasematching conditions of parametric downconversion and sum-frequency generation allows for highly pure single-photon generation, flexible temporal-mode entanglement, and accurate measurement of time-frequency photon states. We provide an overview of experimental progress towards these goals, and summarise challenges that remain in the field.

arXiv:1803.04316•Optica•Apr 30, 2018•152 citations

Spectral broadening and shaping of nanosecond pulses: toward shaping of single photons from quantum emitters

Imad H. Agha, Serkan Ateş, Luca Sapienza +1 more

We experimentally demonstrate spectral broadening and shaping of exponentially-decaying nanosecond pulses via nonlinear mixing with a phase-modulated pump in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide. 1550 nm pump light is imprinted with a temporal phase and used to upconvert a weak 980 nm pulse to 600 nm while simultaneously broadening the spectrum to that of a Lorentzian pulse up to 10 times shorter. While the current experimental demonstration is for spectral shaping, we also provide a numerical study showing the feasibility of subsequent spectral phase correction to achieve temporal compression and reshaping of a 1 ns mono-exponentially decaying pulse to a 250 ps Lorentzian, which would constitute a complete spectrotemporal waveform shaping protocol. This method, which uses quantum frequency conversion in PPLN with >100:1 signal-to-noise ratio, is compatible with single photon states of light.

arXiv:1407.3828•Optics Letters•Sep 24, 2014•18 citations

Tailored four-wave-mixing processes for optical quantum information science

Jesper B. Christensen

This thesis deals with applications of nonlinear four-wave mixing in the context of optical quantum information science. By enabling diverse functionalities such as single-photon generation, temporal shaping, and frequency conversion, four-wave mixing is a highly versatile tool for processing optical quantum information. The first part addresses the use of spontaneous four-wave mixing for generating entangled photon pairs with the particular property that the photons are uncorrelated in time and frequency. Two schemes are proposed to achieve this. The first proposal relies on a gradually varying interaction between two orthogonally polarized pump pulses in a birefringent waveguide. It is shown that, if the two pump pulses undergo a complete walk-through, the two generated photons emerge in orthogonal polarizations with uncorrelated- and tailorable time-frequency distributions. The second proposal deals with photon-pair generation in a microring resonator. In this setting, it is shown that a dual-pulse configuration can be used to excite- and subsequently de-excite the resonator on a sub-lifetime timescale. This turns out to strongly diminish time-frequency correlations. The second part considers the four-wave-mixing process Bragg scattering, which is known to enable noise-free frequency conversion. The Bragg-scattering process treated here, which occurs in a birefringent waveguide, is shown to allow for shape-preserving and strongly uni-directional conversion with a large acceptance bandwidth.

•Jan 1, 2018•1 citation
Proposals for long-distance quantum communication rely on the entanglement of matter-based quantum nodes through optical communications channels, but the entangling light pulses have poor temporal behavior in current experiments. Here we show that nonlinear mixing of a quantum light pulse with a spectrally tailored classical field can compress the quantum pulse by more than a factor of 100 and flexibly reshape its temporal waveform while preserving all quantum properties, including entanglement. Our scheme paves the way for quantum communication at the full data rate of optical telecommunications.
We experimentally demonstrate the temporal reshaping of optical waveforms in the telecom wavelength band using the principle of quantum frequency conversion. The reshaped optical pulses do not undergo any wavelength translation. The interaction takes place in a nonlinear chi((2)) waveguide using an appropriately designed pump pulse programmed via an optical waveform generator. We show the reshaping of a single-peak pulse into a double-peak pulse and vice versa. We also show that exponentially decaying pulses can be reshaped into a near Gaussian shape, and vice versa, which is a useful functionality for quantum communications. (C) 2017 Optical Society of America
For the realization of a hybrid quantum network, an efficient spectral mode matching between dissimilar photon sources is quintessential. With nonlinear frequency conversion it has already been shown it is possible to match central frequencies [1], but not spectral bandwidth. Previous experiments relied on passive filtering for bandwidth matching [2], [3] and were suffering from too high loss rates to allow for an efficient information transfer and processing between different quantum light sources. Promising results in spectral bandwidth conversion of quantum light have been shown by a phase-only reshaping approach using electro-optic time lensing [4], [5]. In close analogy to a thin lens in space, first a quadratic spectral phaseϕ\phiϕis applied, followed by, an again quadratic, temporal phaseφ\varphiφ. By choosing the right collimation condition,ϕ=φ−1\phi=\varphi^{-1}ϕ=φ−1, compression (or expansion) is achieved in spectral width [6]. By this active reshaping of the spectral-temporal wave packet, for a quantum light source in telecom wavelength a compression factor of about 50 has already been shown [5].
We experimentally demonstrate the temporal reshaping of optical waveforms in the telecom wavelength band using the principle of quantum frequency conversion. The reshaped optical pulses do not undergo any wavelength translation. The interaction takes place in a nonlinear χ(2) waveguide using an appropriately designed pump pulse programmed via an optical waveform generator. We show the reshaping of a single-peak pulse into a double-peak pulse and vice versa. We also show that exponentially decaying pulses can be reshaped into a near Gaussian shape, and vice versa, which is a useful functionality for quantum communications.
The time-frequency degree of freedom is a powerful resource for implementing high-dimensional quantum information processing. In particular, field-orthogonal pulsed temporal modes offer a flexible framework compatible with both long-distance fibre networks and integrated waveguide devices. In order for this architecture to be fully utilised, techniques to reliably generate diverse quantum states of light and accurately measure complex temporal waveforms must be developed. To this end, nonlinear processes mediated by spectrally shaped pump pulses in group-velocity engineered waveguides and crystals provide a capable toolbox. In this review, we examine how tailoring the phasematching conditions of parametric downconversion and sum-frequency generation allows for highly pure single-photon generation, flexible temporal-mode entanglement, and accurate measurement of time-frequency photon states. We provide an overview of experimental progress towards these goals, and summarise challenges that remain in the field.
We experimentally demonstrate spectral broadening and shaping of exponentially-decaying nanosecond pulses via nonlinear mixing with a phase-modulated pump in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide. 1550 nm pump light is imprinted with a temporal phase and used to upconvert a weak 980 nm pulse to 600 nm while simultaneously broadening the spectrum to that of a Lorentzian pulse up to 10 times shorter. While the current experimental demonstration is for spectral shaping, we also provide a numerical study showing the feasibility of subsequent spectral phase correction to achieve temporal compression and reshaping of a 1 ns mono-exponentially decaying pulse to a 250 ps Lorentzian, which would constitute a complete spectrotemporal waveform shaping protocol. This method, which uses quantum frequency conversion in PPLN with >100:1 signal-to-noise ratio, is compatible with single photon states of light.
This thesis deals with applications of nonlinear four-wave mixing in the context of optical quantum information science. By enabling diverse functionalities such as single-photon generation, temporal shaping, and frequency conversion, four-wave mixing is a highly versatile tool for processing optical quantum information. The first part addresses the use of spontaneous four-wave mixing for generating entangled photon pairs with the particular property that the photons are uncorrelated in time and frequency. Two schemes are proposed to achieve this. The first proposal relies on a gradually varying interaction between two orthogonally polarized pump pulses in a birefringent waveguide. It is shown that, if the two pump pulses undergo a complete walk-through, the two generated photons emerge in orthogonal polarizations with uncorrelated- and tailorable time-frequency distributions. The second proposal deals with photon-pair generation in a microring resonator. In this setting, it is shown that a dual-pulse configuration can be used to excite- and subsequently de-excite the resonator on a sub-lifetime timescale. This turns out to strongly diminish time-frequency correlations. The second part considers the four-wave-mixing process Bragg scattering, which is known to enable noise-free frequency conversion. The Bragg-scattering process treated here, which occurs in a birefringent waveguide, is shown to allow for shape-preserving and strongly uni-directional conversion with a large acceptance bandwidth.