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arXiv:2111.12657 · Nanophotonics

Direct generation of entangled photon pairs in nonlinear optical waveguides

Álvaro Rodríguez Echarri, Joel D. Cox, F. Javier Garcı́a de Abajo

Published Jan 21, 2022• 10 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Entangled photons are pivotal elements in emerging quantum information technologies. While several schemes are available for the production of entangled photons, they typically require the assistance of cumbersome optical elements to couple them to other components involved in logic operations. Here, we introduce a scheme by which entangled photon pairs are directly generated as guided mode states in optical waveguides. The scheme relies on the intrinsic nonlinearity of the waveguide material, circumventing the use of bulky optical components and their associated phase-matching constraints. Specifically, we consider an optical waveguide under normal illumination, so that photon down-conversion can take place to excite waveguide states with opposite momentum in a spectral region populated by only two accessible modes. By additionally configuring the external illumination to interfere different incident directions, we can produce maximally entangled photon-pair states, directly generated as waveguide modes with conversion efficiencies that are competitive with respect to existing macroscopic schemes. These results should find application in the design of more efficient and compact quantum optics devices.

DOI
10.1515/nanoph-2021-0736

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Entangled photons are pivotal elements in emerging quantum information technologies. While several schemes are available for the production of entangled photons, they typically require the assistance of cumbersome optical elements to couple them to other components involved in logic operations. Here, we introduce a scheme by which entangled photon pairs are directly generated as guided mode states in optical waveguides. The scheme relies on the intrinsic nonlinearity of the waveguide material, circumventing the use of bulky optical components and their associated phase-matching constraints. Specifically, we consider an optical waveguide under normal illumination, so that photon down-conversion can take place to excite waveguide states with opposite momentum in a spectral region populated by only two accessible modes. By additionally configuring the external illumination to interfere different incident directions, we can produce maximally entangled photon-pair states, directly generated as waveguide modes with conversion efficiencies that are competitive with respect to existing macroscopic schemes. These results should find application in the design of more efficient and compact quantum optics devices.
Entangled photons are a key resource in quantum technologies. While intense laser light propagating in nonlinear crystals is conventionally used to generate entangled photons, such schemes have low efficiency due to the weak nonlinear response of known materials and losses associated with in/out photon coupling. Here, we show how to generate entangled polariton pairs directly within optical waveguides using free electrons. The measured energy loss of undeflected electrons heralds the production of counter-propagating polariton pairs entangled in energy and emission direction. For illustration, we study the excitation of plasmon polaritons in metal strip waveguides that strongly enhance light-matter interactions, rendering two-plasmon generation dominant over single-plasmon excitation. We demonstrate that electron energy losses detected within optimal frequency ranges can reliably signal the generation of plasmon pairs entangled in energy and momentum. Our proposed scheme is directly applicable to other types of optical waveguides for in situ generation of entangled photon pairs.
We predict that all-optically-reconfigurable generation of photon pairs with tailored spatial entanglement can be realized via spontaneous parametric down conversion in integrated nonlinear coupled waveguides. The required elements of the output quantum wave function are directly mapped from the amplitudes and phases of the classical laser pump inputs in each waveguide. This is achieved through special nonuniform domain poling, which locally inverts the sign of quadratic nonlinear susceptibility and accordingly shapes the interference of biphoton quantum states generated along the waveguides. We demonstrate a device configuration for the generation of any linear combination of two-photon Bell states.
Summary form only given. Correlated photons are a key ingredient of many experiments testing the foundations of quantum mechanics and in quantum information processing. Many of these experiments harness entanglement by means of the nonclassical interference of photon pairs. A critical issue for such experiments is the mode matching of the photonic wave packets. Spontaneous parametric down-conversion is a well-established and practical method for generating pairs of correlated photons. High visibility interference of photon pairs generated by down-conversion in bulk crystals, a standard source for this type of experiments, can be achieved only by significant spatial filtering, which dramatically reduces the useful fraction of photon pairs. It also reduces the correlations between the presence of photons, thus opening for example the efficiency loophole in tests of Bell's inequalities. Nonlinear waveguides, compared to bulk crystals, offer several advantages as a source of correlated photon pairs. Most importantly, the waveguide structure provides a means to control precisely the spatial characteristics of generated photons, because of the well-defined transverse modes of the guide. in addition, nonlinear waveguides offer both higher pair production rates by utilizing the technique of quasiphase matching, and possibilities for spectral mode engineering.
Integrated optical devices are expected to play a promising role in the field of quantum information science and technology. In this paper we propose a scheme for the generation of nondegenerate, copolarized, modal, and path-entangled photons using a directional coupler and an asymmetric Y\mathsf{Y}Y-coupler geometry in type-0 phase-matched domain-engineered lithium niobate (LN) waveguide. The nonlinearity in LN is tailored in such a way that quasi-phase-matching conditions for two different spontaneous parametric down-conversion processes are obeyed simultaneously, leading to a modal and path-entangled state at the output. Assuming typical values of various parameters, we show, through numerical simulations, that an almost maximally entangled state is achievable over a wide range of waveguide parameters. For the degenerate case, the proposed scheme gives a NOON state for NNN === 2. The generated entangled photon pairs should have potential applications in quantum information schemes and also in quantum metrology. By appropriate domain engineering and component designing, the idea can be further extended to generate hyperentangled and two-photon multipath-entangled states, which may have further applications in quantum computation protocols.
Sources of entangled photons are cornerstones of photonic quantum technologies, providing the basic resources for a wide range of quantum protocols for computing, simulation and sensing. A typical technique to generate entangled photon pairs exploits spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) in non-linear crystals. In this context, an integrated-optics approach based on non-linear waveguides [1] can boost source brightness due to the enhanced mode confinement, and can take great advantage from the unique compactness and stability of on-chip devices. However, integrated devices are often specialized to produce a given quantum state.
Harnessing high-dimensional entangled states of light presents a frontier for advancing quantum information technologies, from fundamental tests of quantum mechanics to enhanced computation and communication protocols. In this context, the spatial degree of freedom stands out as particularly suited for on-chip integration. But while traditional demonstrations produce and manipulate path-entangled states sequentially with discrete optical elements, continuously-coupled nonlinear waveguide systems offer a promising alternative where photons can be generated and interfere along the entire propagation length, unveiling novel capabilities within a reduced footprint. Here we exploit this concept to implement a compact and reconfigurable source of path-entangled photon pairs based on parametric down-conversion in semiconductor AlGaAs nonlinear waveguides arrays.