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arXiv:1609.07397 · New Journal of Physics

Active locking and entanglement in type II optical parametric oscillators

J. Ruiz-Rivas, Germán J. de Valcárcel, Carlos Navarrete–Benlloch

Published Dec 21, 2017• 0 citations
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Abstract

Type II optical parametric oscillators are amongst the highest-quality sources of quantum-correlated light. In particular, when pumped above threshold, such devices generate a pair of bright orthogonally-polarized beams with strong continuous-variable entanglement. However, these sources are of limited practical use, because the entangled beams emerge with different frequencies and a diffusing phase difference. It has been proven that the use of an internal wave-plate coupling the modes with orthogonal polarization is capable of locking the frequencies of the emerging beams to half the pump frequency, as well as reducing the phase-difference diffusion, at the expense of reducing the entanglement levels. In this work we characterize theoretically an alternative locking mechanism: the injection of a laser at half the pump frequency. Apart from being less invasive, this method should allow for an easier real-time experimental control. We show that such an injection is capable of generating the desired phase locking between the emerging beams, while still allowing for large levels of entanglement. Moreover, we find an additional region of the parameter space (at relatively large injections) where a mode with well defined polarization is in a highly amplitude-squeezed state.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/aaa395

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Type II optical parametric oscillators are amongst the highest-quality sources of quantum-correlated light. In particular, when pumped above threshold, such devices generate a pair of bright orthogonally-polarized beams with strong continuous-variable entanglement. However, these sources are of limited practical use, because the entangled beams emerge with different frequencies and a diffusing phase difference. It has been proven that the use of an internal wave-plate coupling the modes with orthogonal polarization is capable of locking the frequencies of the emerging beams to half the pump frequency, as well as reducing the phase-difference diffusion, at the expense of reducing the entanglement levels. In this work we characterize theoretically an alternative locking mechanism: the injection of a laser at half the pump frequency. Apart from being less invasive, this method should allow for an easier real-time experimental control. We show that such an injection is capable of generating the desired phase locking between the emerging beams, while still allowing for large levels of entanglement. Moreover, we find an additional region of the parameter space (at relatively large injections) where a mode with well defined polarization is in a highly amplitude-squeezed state.
Type II optical parametric oscillators are amongst the highest-quality sources of quantum-correlated light. In particular, when pumped above threshold, such devices generate a pair of bright orthogonally-polarized beams with strong continuous-variable entanglement. However, these sources are of limited practical use, because the entangled beams emerge with different frequencies and a diffusing phase difference. It has been proven that the use of an internal wave-plate coupling the modes with orthogonal polarization is capable of locking the frequencies of the emerging beams to half the pump frequency, as well as reducing the phase-difference diffusion, at the expense of reducing the entanglement levels. In this work we characterize theoretically an alternative locking mechanism: the injection of a laser at half the pump frequency. Apart from being less invasive, this method should allow for an easier real-time experimental control. We show that such an injection is capable of generating the desired phase locking between the emerging beams, while still allowing for large levels of entanglement. Moreover, we find an additional region of the parameter space (at relatively large injections) where a mode with well defined polarization is in a highly amplitude-squeezed state.
We explore in detail the possibility of intracavity generation of continuous-variable (CV) entangled states of light beams under mode phase-locked conditions. We show that such quantum states can be generated in a self-phase-locked nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator (NOPO) based on type II phase-matched down-conversion combined with a linear mixer of two orthogonally polarized modes of the subharmonics in a cavity. A quantum theory of this device, recently realized in the experiment, is developed for both subthreshold and above-threshold operational regimes. We show that the system providing high-level phase coherence between two generated modes, unlike the ordinary NOPO, also exhibits different types of quantum correlations between photon numbers and phases of these modes. We quantify the CV entanglement as two-mode squeezing and show that the maximal degree of the integral two-mode squeezing (which is 5050%50 relative to the level of vacuum fluctuations) is achieved at the pump field intensity close to the generation threshold of a self-phase-locked NOPO, provided that the constant of linear coupling between the two polarizations is much less than the mode detunings. The peculiarities of CV entanglement for the case of unitary, nondissipative dynamics of the system under consideration are also cleared up.
We have constructed a mode-locked optical parametric oscillator (OPO), synchronously pumped by the second harmonic of a continuously mode-locked Nd:YAG laser and based on type II phase matching in a KTP crystal. The two subharmonics (signal and idler waves) are nearly degenerate in frequency but are distinct orthogonal polarization states, and the oscillator is thus a nondegenerate OPO. Above threshold, the intensities of the signal and idler output beams should be highly correlated, as recently demonstrated for a similar single-frequency OPO.1 Ideally, the quantum noise on the corresponding photocurrent difference signal is completely suppressed for frequencies that are small compared to the OPO cavity bandwidth. Since this configuration produces intense light beams with potentially very good noise suppression, it is an important prototype for possible applications, e.g., to spectroscopy. Initial results with our OPO show an excess uncorrelated polarization noise, possibly due to depolarized light scattering in the KTP crystal. When the OPO cavity is stabilized with the signal and idler degenerate in frequency, they can be mixed to form a superposition by manipulating their polarization. When the oscillator is pumped below threshold, a pulsed squeezed vacuum state is produced in two such mixtures.2 When the polarizations are mixed inside the OPO cavity by a Faraday rotator, the backaction evasion necessary for a quantum nondemolition (QND) measurement of one of the field quadratures of an externally injected beam is obtained.3 The pulsed local oscillator used in observing the squeezing or QND effects is derived from the fundamental output of the pump laser. Progress in implementing these experiments with our mode-locked OPO is described as well as possible applications to time-domain measurements with noise below the shot-noise limit.
We report the realization of a classically phase-locked source of quantum twin beams. Theoretical work by Reid and Drummond, and more recently by van Loock and Braunstein, predicts that such a source is adequate for creating bipartite and multipartite continuous-variable entanglement. The source is a type-II optical parametric oscillator (OPO) above threshold. Its exceptional frequency and intensity stability is derived from careful design and from three servo loops. The OPO can stably emit on the frequency-degenerate mode, pumped a few percent above the threshold. We observe a preliminary number-difference squeezing of 5.5 dB (6.4 dB inferred) at 200 kHz. In order to enable future EPR measurements, the signal and idler fields must also be classically phase-locked: we measure a signal-idler-frequency-difference linewidth smaller than 300 Hz for our OPO.
We study theoretically and experimentally the quantum properties of a type-II frequency-degenerate optical parametric oscillator below threshold with a quarter-wave plate inserted inside the cavity which induces a linear coupling between the orthogonally polarized signal and idler fields. This original device provides a good insight into general properties of two-mode Gaussian states, illustrated in terms of the covariance matrix. We report on the experimental generation of a two-mode squeezed vacuum on nonorthogonal quadratures depending on the plate angle. After a simple operation, the entanglement is maximized and put into standard form, i.e., quantum correlations and anticorrelations on orthogonal quadratures. A half sum of squeezed variances as low as $0.33\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02$, well below the unit limit for inseparability, is obtained and the entanglement measured by the entropy of formation.
We explore in detail the possibility of generation of continuous-variable (CV) entangled states of light fields with well-localized phases. We show that such quantum states, called entangled self-phase locked states, can be generated in nondegenerate optical parametric oscillator (NOPO) based on a type-II phase-matched down-conversion combined with polarization mixer in a cavity. A quantum theory of this device, recently realized in the experiment, is developed for both sub-threshold and above-threshold operational regimes. We show that the system providing relative phase coherence between two generated modes also exhibits different types of quantum correlations between photon numbers and phases of these modes. We quantify the entanglement as two-mode squeezing and show that CV entanglement is realized for both unitary, non-dissipative dynamics and for dissipative NOPO in the entire range of pump field intensities.