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arXiv:1211.1865 · Optics Letters

All-optical switching of a microcavity repeated at terahertz rates

Emre Yüce, Georgios Ctistis, Julien Claudon, Emmanuel Dupuy, Robin D. Buijs, Bob de Ronde, Allard P. Mosk, Jean‐Michel Gérard, Willem L. Vos

Published Jan 30, 2013• 38 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We have repeatedly and reproducibly switched a GaAs-AlAs planar microcavity operating in the "original" telecom band by exploiting the virtually instantaneous electronic Kerr effect. We achieve repetition times as fast as 300 fs, thereby breaking the terahertz modulation barrier. The rate of the switching in our experiments is only determined by optics and not by material-related relaxation. Our results offer opportunities for fundamental studies of cavity quantum electrodynamics and optical information processing in the subpicosecond time scale.

DOI
10.1364/ol.38.000374

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We have repeatedly and reproducibly switched a GaAs-AlAs planar microcavity operating in the "original" telecom band by exploiting the virtually instantaneous electronic Kerr effect. We achieve repetition times as fast as 300 fs, thereby breaking the terahertz modulation barrier. The rate of the switching in our experiments is only determined by optics and not by material-related relaxation. Our results offer opportunities for fundamental studies of cavity quantum electrodynamics and optical information processing in the subpicosecond time scale.
In this thesis we study ultrafast all-optical switching of microcavities. We employ the electronic Kerr effect to switch the resonance frequency of microcavities operating at telecom wavelengths. We observe the fastest possible switching of a microcavity resonance within 300 fs. The switching speed is only determined by the cavity storage time; only limited by the speed of light and not by material related relaxation properties. For the first time, we derive and measure the non-degenerate three-photon absorption coefficient of GaAs. Using the measured nondegenerate two- and three-photon absorption coefficients we estimate that the trigger laser only lose 22 aJ/µm2 at each switch event, which is a record level of minimum energy loss per switch event. We achieve repeated switching of microcavities within 700 fs, corresponding to THz rates. Therefore to best of our knowledge, we have broken the THz clock rate barrier experimentally using semiconductor cavities for the first time. The THz clock rate that we achieve can be a solution for information technology that is exploring ways to meet the growth rate of the computational demand. The color of light is a main visual perception of light for humans. Indeed, a simple measure for the color of light is given by its frequency since frequency of light is invariant from one medium to another. Although the propagation of light is strongly modified using nanostructures such as photonic crystals and microcavities, the frequency of light stays constant in these structures as well. The color of light can be changed in a nonlinear process or by absorption and re-emission. Using microcavities light is conveniently confined in space and then by dynamical control the medium can be changed to act as a nonlinear medium for light. Remarkably, we show that during the switching of cavities we achieve both up and down frequency conversion of light. The frequency conversion that we observe is a result of the instantaneous refractive index change achieved using the electronic Kerr effect. We achieve repeated frequency conversion at THz rates and generate blue- and red-shifted light pulses at this rate.
Optically induced ultrafast switching of single photons is demonstrated by rotating the photon polarization via the Kerr effect in a commercially available single-mode fiber. A switching efficiency of 97% is achieved with a ∼1.7 ps switching time and signal-to-noise ratio of ∼800. Preservation of the single-photon properties is confirmed by measuring no significant increase in the second-order autocorrelation function g(2)(0). These values are attained with only nanojoule-level pump energies that are produced by a laser oscillator with 80 MHz repetition rate. The results highlight a simple device capable of both high-bandwidth operations and preservation of single-photon properties for applications in photonic quantum processing and ultrafast time-gating or switching.
Light's intrinsic carrier frequency of hundreds of terahertz theoretically enables information processing at terahertz clock rates. In optical quantum computing, continuous-variable quantum teleportation is the fundamental building block for deterministic logic operations. This protocol transfers unknown quantum states between nodes using quantum entanglement and real-time feedforward of measurement outcomes. However, electrical feedforward bottlenecks currently restrict operational bandwidths to approximately 100 megahertz, preventing the exploitation of light's ultimate speed. Here we show 1-terahertz-bandwidth all-optical quantum teleportation, completely bypassing this electronic limitation. By transferring Bell measurement outcomes optically, we successfully teleported vacuum states across the terahertz band and real-time random coherent wavepackets with a 42-picosecond temporal width. Evaluating the intrinsic state transfer quality, we achieved teleportation fidelities of F=0.784\mathcal{F}=0.784F=0.784 for the broadband vacuum states and F=0.770\mathcal{F}=0.770F=0.770 for the dynamic coherent wavepackets. Both results strictly surpass the classical limit of F=0.5\mathcal{F}=0.5F=0.5, demonstrating genuine quantum teleportation at ultrafast speeds. Our results establish that optical quantum processing speeds are constrained solely by the nonlinear medium's 1-picosecond-scale response, rather than classical electrical interfaces. This methodology provides a cornerstone for terahertz-clock quantum computers capable of overcoming Moore's law, and paves the way for a high-capacity, telecom-compatible quantum internet.
We have carried out an extensive series of experiments on coherent control of semiconductor quantum microcavities. In these experiments, a phase-locked femtosecond optical pulse pair is used to excite the lower normal mode (cavity polariton), thereby controlling the reflection of a signal pulse tuned to the upper normal mode. Such a controlled reflection may be used as an all-optical switch with picosecond switching time. We have demonstrated that the effect of the microcavity is to provide a huge enhancement of the coherently controlled response compared to bare quantum wells. We have investigated in detail the microscopic physical processes responsible for the nonlinear optical response; the measured response fits well with theories based on the electron-hole Hamiltonian in the coherent-X(5) and 2nd-Born approximations. The physical limits to the coherent control are determined by excitation-induced dephasing; this limits the applicability of the switch in practical terms. We have discovered that the use of phase-locked excitation pulses is that one can generate novel intraband coherences in the quantum wells, arising from true quantum correlations between the cavity field and the carrier populations. The discovery of this effect was perhaps the first genuinely quantum optical effect observed in semiconductor microcavities.