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arXiv:1803.04316 · Optica

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

Vahid Ansari, John M. Donohue, Benjamin Brecht, Christine Silberhorn

Published Apr 30, 2018• 152 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

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.

DOI
10.1364/optica.5.000534

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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.
High-dimensional quantum information processing promises capabilities beyond the current state of the art, but addressing individual information-carrying modes presents a significant experimental challenge. Here we demonstrate effective high-dimensional operations in the time-frequency domain of nonclassical light. We generate heralded photons with tailored temporal-mode structures through the pulse shaping of a broadband parametric down-conversion pump. We then implement a quantum pulse gate, enabled by dispersion-engineered sum-frequency generation, to project onto programmable temporal modes, reconstructing the quantum state in seven dimensions. We also manipulate the time-frequency structure by selectively removing temporal modes, explicitly demonstrating the effectiveness of engineered nonlinear processes for the mode-selective manipulation of quantum states.
The temporal-mode (TM) basis is a prime candidate to perform high-dimensional quantum encoding. Quantum frequency conversion has been employed as a tool to perform tomographic analysis and manipulation of ultrafast states of quantum light necessary to implement a TM-based encoding protocol. While demultiplexing of such states of light has been demonstrated in the quantum pulse gate (QPG), a multiplexing device is needed to complete an experimental framework for TM encoding. In this work we demonstrate the reverse process of the QPG. A dispersion-engineered difference frequency generation in nonlinear optical waveguides is employed to imprint the pulse shape of the pump pulse onto the output. We study experimentally the process by spectrally shaping the first five orders of Hermite-Gauss modes of various bandwidths. Finally, we establish and model the limits of practical, reliable spectral pulse shaping operation.
Quantum photonics is increasingly making use of the energy-time degree of freedom (DoF) to encode information. Its inherently high-dimensionality offers higher information capacity and robustness against noise. Most frequently, the energy-time DoF is exploited in the form of time bins and frequency bins, with direct applications in both quantum information processing tasks and quantum communication protocols. More recently, it has been used also in its pulse modes (or temporal modes) form, sets of states overlapping in time and frequency but kept orthogonal considering their temporal and spectral phase, whose difficult manipulation and characterisation made it less appealing for experimental applications. The production of states encoded in pulse modes has been demonstrated through sum frequency generation in waveguides [1] and parametric down conversion in bulk crystals [2], as well as the demonstration of schemes for creating hyper-entanglement among energy-time DoF and other high-dimensional DoFs [3], [4]. However, their implementation is still an area of continuous development and evolution, given the complexity of manipulating and characterising them.
Single photons provide a natural platform for quantum communication and quantum networking, as they can be entangled in many degrees of freedom and maintain coherence over long-distance links. However, while their minimal interactions with the environment isolate them from detrimental noise, it can make them difficult to measure and manipulate. In particular, manipulation on the ultrafast timescale is necessary to fully exploit the energy-time (or spectral) photonic degree of freedom. Full control over the spectral properties of single photons is key to many quantum technologies and opens the door to natural high-dimensional quantum encodings. \n \nIn this thesis, we theoretically and experimentally examine the use of nonlinear optical processes mediated by strong laser pulses as a method to control the spectral properties of ultrafast single photons. By mixing single-photon pulses with strong escort pulses that have been shaped through dispersion in a nonlinear crystal, the shape of the escort is imprinted on the photon, resulting in a custom-tailored upconverted pulse. We theoretically examine this process for quadratic spectral phases and show that it has the potential to be simultaneously effective and efficient for the customization of single-photon spectral waveforms, and can be performed in an entanglement-conserving manner. \n \nWe then experimentally demonstrate the range of this technique through three applications. First, we show that sum-frequency generation with shaped pulses can be used to coherently measure time-bin encoded photons with bin separations on the order of picoseconds, well below the timing resolution of our detectors. Secondly, we show that this technique can be adapted to convert a train of pulses to a frequency comb, which can be read out in a straightforward manner using diffraction-based spectrometry. We also show here that this process can be performed in a polarization-maintaining fashion, and demonstrate that entanglement with a partner photon is conserved with high fidelity. Finally, we show that this process can be viewed as a time lens, which modulates a temporal waveform in an analogous fashion to a lens focusing a beam of light. We apply the time lens to a photon from an energy-time entangled pair, and show negative magnification of the joint spectrum through a reversal of the spectral correlations. Such processes could find application in quantum state engineering and high-speed single-photon measurement.
Two-photon time-frequency entanglement is a valuable resource in quantum information. Resolving the wavepacket of ultrashort pulsed single-photons, however, is a challenge. Here, we demonstrate remote spectral shaping of single photon states and probe the coherence properties of two-photon quantum correlations in the time-frequency domain, using engineered parametric down-conversion (PDC) and a quantum pulse gate (QPG) in nonlinear waveguides. Through tailoring the joint spectral amplitude function of our PDC source we control the temporal mode structure between the generated photon pairs and show remote state-projections over a range of time-frequency mode superpositions.
A new, and thus far only, method to overcome a selectivity barrier in parametrically pumped quantum pulse gates is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for the first time, using frequency conversion of optical temporal modes in second-order nonlinear waveguides. Temporal modes and quantum pulse gates are defined and their utilities are explored. Pulsed operation of three-field and four-field, parametric, optical processes are modeled and numerically investigated. A maximum limit to achievable selectivity for quantum pulse gating in uniform media is discovered and theoretically explained. An interferometric means of overcoming said limit and asymptotically approaching unit selectivity is proposed. The principle is experimentally verified by double-passing specifically shaped optical pulses derived from an ultrafast Ti:sapphire laser through a periodically-poled lithium niobate waveguide phasematched for sum-frequency generation. Further improvements and future implications for quantum technologies are discussed.