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arXiv:1811.02632 · Optics Letters

Spatial mode detection by frequency upconversion

Bereneice Sephton, Adam Vallés, Fabian Steinlechner, Thomas Konrad, Juan P. Torres, Filippus Stefanus Roux, Andrew Forbes

Published Jan 23, 2019• 35 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The efficient creation and detection of spatial modes of light has become topical of late, driven by the need to increase photon bit-rates in classical and quantum communications. Such mode creation/detection is traditionally achieved with tools based on linear optics. Here we put forward a new spatial mode detection technique based on the nonlinear optical process of sum-frequency generation. We outline the concept theoretically and demonstrate it experimentally with intense laser beams carrying orbital angular momentum and Hermite-Gaussian modes. Finally, we show that the method can be used to transfer an image from the infrared band to the visible, which implies the efficient conversion of many spatial modes.

DOI
10.1364/ol.44.000586

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The efficient creation and detection of spatial modes of light has become topical of late, driven by the need to increase photon bit-rates in classical and quantum communications. Such mode creation/detection is traditionally achieved with tools based on linear optics. Here we put forward a new spatial mode detection technique based on the nonlinear optical process of sum-frequency generation. We outline the concept theoretically and demonstrate it experimentally with intense laser beams carrying orbital angular momentum and Hermite-Gaussian modes. Finally, we show that the method can be used to transfer an image from the infrared band to the visible, which implies the efficient conversion of many spatial modes.
Coherent frequency conversion of structured light, i.e. the ability to manipulate the carrier frequency of a wave front without distorting its spatial phase and intensity profile, provides the opportunity for numerous novel applications in photonic technology and fundamental science. In particular, frequency conversion of spatial modes carrying orbital angular momentum can be exploited in sub-wavelength resolution nano-optics and coherent imaging at a wavelength different from that used to illuminate an object. Moreover, coherent frequency conversion will be crucial for interfacing information stored in the high-dimensional spatial structure of single and entangled photons with various constituents of quantum networks. In this work, we demonstrate frequency conversion of structured light from the near infrared (803 nm) to the visible (527 nm). The conversion scheme is based on sum-frequency generation in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal pumped with a 1540-nm Gaussian beam. We observe frequency-converted fields that exhibit a high degree of similarity with the input field and verify the coherence of the frequency-conversion process via mode projection measurements with a phase mask and a single-mode fiber. Our results demonstrate the suitability of exploiting the technique for applications in quantum information processing and coherent imaging.
We experimentally study a nonlinear optical approach to selective manipulation and detection of structured images mixed with turbulent noise. Unlike any existing adaptive-optics method by applying compensating modulation directly on the images, here we account for the turbulence indirectly, by modulating only the pump driving the nonlinear process but not the images themselves. This indirect approach eliminates any signal modulation loss or noise, while allowing more flexible and capable operations. Using specifically sum frequency generation in a lithium niobate crystal, we demonstrate selective upconversion of Laguerre-Gaussian spatial modes mixed with turbulent noise. The extinction reaches ~40 dB without turbulence, and maintains ~20 dB in the presence of strong turbulence. This technique could find utilities in classical and quantum communications, compressive imaging, pattern recognition, and so on.
The orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light shows great potential in quantum communication. The transmission wavelength for telecom is usually around 1550 nm, while the common quantum information storage and processing devices based on atoms, ions or NV color centers are for photons in visible regime. Here we demonstrate a quantum information interface based on the frequency upconversion for photons carrying OAM states from telecom wavelength to visible regime by sum-frequency generation with high quantum conversion efficiency. The infrared photons at 1558 nm carrying different OAM values were converted to the visible regime of 622.2 nm, and the OAM value of the signal photons was well preserved in the frequency upconversion process with pump beam in Gaussian profile.
We investigate spatial-mode-selective frequency up-converters of quantum states from infrared to visible region, which could be useful not only for interfacing the optical fiber links with quantum memories and for increasing the photon detection efficiency, but also for classical demultiplexing of spatial modes that are otherwise difficult to discriminate in both spatial and spatial-frequency domains. We consider two approaches: first, based on sum-frequency generation (SFG) in 2D free space, and second, based on SFG in a multimode waveguide with 2D confinement. For the latter approach, we find that under proper quasi-phase-matching arrangement, several different pairs of signal and pump modes are converted to the same SFG mode. By adjusting the relative phases and magnitudes of the pump modes, any superposition of the corresponding signal modes can be selected for up-conversion without affecting other modes.