Abstract Quantum noise limits the sensitivity of optical measurements, but squeezed states of light enable quantum-enhanced metrology, sensing, and information processing. Most on-chip squeezed-light sources rely on Kerr (χ(3)) nonlinearities, remain limited by pump power and excess loss constraints. Quadratic (χ(2)) platforms instead provide stronger parametric interactions, lower pump power requirements, and greater spectral engineering flexibility. Here, we demonstrate strong, broadband squeezed-light generation on a thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic chip using a dual-resonant optical parametric amplifier implemented in a single periodically poled LN (PPLN) microresonator. Near-full-depth domain inversion is achieved simultaneously with highly over-coupled resonances, exhibiting escape efficiencies exceeding 90% and intrinsic quality factors above 2.5 million in a 0.6mm2 X-cut TF-PPLN resonator, enabling efficient squeezing at 1587nm when pumped at 793.5 nm. Operating in the continuous-wave regime, we directly measure −0.81 dB of squeezing below the shot-noise limit with a pump power of 27mW, together with +4.29 dB of anti-squeezing. From these measurements, we infer an on-chip squeezing level of −7.52 dB±0.22 dB (95% confidence interval: [−7.96,−7.10] dB), and an on-chip anti-squeezing level of +9.62 dB±0.25 dB . We demonstrate single-mode squeezing at degeneracy with a squeezed-light spectrum exceeding 10.3 THz. This work reports the highest squeezing ratio among integrated χ(2) cavity platforms and the first quasi-phase matched, fully resonant χ(2) cavity squeezer on chip, establishing a scalable route to fully integrated power-efficient squeezed-light sources for quantum-enhanced sensing and metrology.
Quantum noise limits the sensitivity of optical measurements, but squeezed states of light enable quantum-enhanced metrology, sensing, and information processing. Most on-chip squeezed-light sources rely on Kerr (
χ(3)) nonlinearities, remain limited by pump power and excess loss constraints. Quadratic (
χ(2)) platforms instead provide stronger parametric interactions, lower pump power requirements, and greater spectral engineering flexibility. Here, we demonstrate strong, broadband squeezed-light generation on a thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic chip using a dual-resonant optical parametric amplifier implemented in a single periodically poled LN (PPLN) microresonator. Near-full-depth domain inversion is achieved simultaneously with highly over-coupled resonances, exhibiting escape efficiencies exceeding 90% and intrinsic quality factors above 2.5 million in a 0.6 mm
2 X-cut TF-PPLN resonator, enabling efficient squeezing at 1587 nm when pumped at 793.5 nm. Operating in the continuous-wave regime, we directly measure -0.81 dB of squeezing below the shot-noise limit with a pump power of 27 mW, together with +4.29 dB of anti-squeezing. From these measurements, we infer an on-chip squeezing level of -7.52 dB
± 0.22 dB (95% confidence interval: [-7.96,-7.10] dB), and an on-chip anti-squeezing level of +9.62 dB
± 0.25 dB. We demonstrate single-mode squeezing at degeneracy with a squeezed-light spectrum exceeding 10.3 THz. This work reports the highest squeezing ratio among integrated
χ(2) cavity platforms and the first quasi-phase matched, fully resonant
χ(2) cavity squeezer on chip, establishing a scalable route to fully integrated power-efficient squeezed-light sources for quantum-enhanced sensing and metrology.
In this Letter, we demonstrate an operational analysis of fully guided single-mode squeezing in the telecom C-band, highlighting its entanglement potential and sensing performance under realistic purity constraints. We observe −1.81±0.05 dB of squeezing at 1550 nm, equating to −4.11±0.05 dB of generated squeezing (after accounting for losses) using a Zn-indiffused MgO-doped periodically-poled lithium niobate (MgO:ppLN) ridge waveguide. To demonstrate the practicality of this fully-guided squeezer, we employ experimentally measured quadrature variances to compute performance metrics such as purity, entropy, and quantum Fisher information for phase sensitivity estimation to demonstrate ∼11% quantum advantage over coherent states through quantum Cramer-Rao bound. We further quantify the entanglement potential of the single-mode squeezed vacuum and establish the nonclassicality of the corresponding two-mode squeezed states using Duan’s inseparability criterion. The source also shows potential for continuous-variable quantum teleportation, with a computed fidelity of ∼73.4% . These results establish practical benchmarks for fiber-compatible squeezed-light sources in telecom-band continuous-variable quantum applications.
We have developed an optical parametric amplification module for quadrature squeezing with input and output ports coupled with optical fibers for both fundamental and second harmonic. The module consists of a periodically poled LiNbO
3 ridge waveguide fabricated with dry etching, dichroic beamsplitters, lenses and four optical fiber pigtales. The high durability of the waveguide and the good separation of squeezed light from a pump beam by the dichroic beamsplitter enable us to inject intense continuous-wave pump light with the power of over 300 mW. We perform $-
4.0{\pm}$0.1 dB of noise reduction for a vacuum state at 1553.3 nm by using a fiber-optics-based measurement setup, which consists of a fiber-optic beamsplitter and a homemade fiber-receptacle balanced detector. The intrinsic loss of the squeezed vacuum in the module is estimated to be 25%. Excluding the extrinsic loss of the measuremental system, the squeezing level in the output fiber of the module is estimated to be $-
5.7{\pm}$0.1 dB. A modularized alignment-free fiber-coupled quadrature squeezer could help to realize quantum information processing with fiber optics.
Squeezed states of light produced by nonlinear interactions in periodically poled crystals are specially engineered quantum states where the uncertainties in the phase or amplitude quadrature can be traded against each other. These low-noise states have applications in quantum communication, sensing, and computing [1]. To fully exploit these applications, precise phase locking of the squeezed light to a local oscillator (LO) phase is essential. For single-pass waveguides the used locking technique has relied on the injection of a frequency-shifted input seed to generate the error signal [1]. Here we assess the advantages and challenges of implementing a technique originally devised for cavity-based squeezed light sources called quantum noise locking (QNL) [2], which features a simplified feedback structure, eliminating the need for an additional frequency shifted field, thereby avoiding seeding and extra optical components. This work experimentally extends QNL to periodically poled LiNbO3waveguides for the first time, which allows for phase controlled squeezing, with less than 10 mrad phase noise, over a 50 GHz bandwidth.
We report generation of 10.1\pm0.2-dB squeezed light from a broadband periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide optical parametric amplifier (OPA). Based on our previous report where a similar PPLN waveguide shows 8.3-dB squeezing [T. Kashiwazaki et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 234003 (2023)], we reduce phase fluctuations and overall optical losses in the measurement system. In particular, we introduce a novel phase detection technique that does not require tapping a part of the squeezed light to get a phase locking signal. We use a phase-detection OPA seeded by a tapped probe and pump light before a squeezer OPA. This configuration breaks the conventional trade-off between generating a phase-locking signal with high-signal-to-noise ratio and suppressing degradation of squeezing level caused by optical tapping. With all these improvements, the phase fluctuation angle is reduced from 14 mrad to 9 mrad, and the total optical loss from 12\% to 8\%. Achieving more than 10 dB of squeezing by the broadband waveguide OPA is a significant step towards realization of fault-tolerant ultra-fast universal optical quantum computation.