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arXiv:2408.12203 · New Journal of Physics

Ultra-broadband non-degenerate guided-wave bi-photon source in the near and mid-infrared

Franz Roeder, Abira Gnanavel, René Pollmann, Olga Brecht, Michael Stefszky, Laura Padberg, Christof Eigner, Christine Silberhorn, Benjamin Brecht

Published Dec 1, 2024• 13 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Abstract The latest applications in ultrafast quantum metrology require bright, broadband bi-photon sources with one of the photons in the mid-infrared and the other in the visible to near infrared. However, existing sources based on bulk crystals are limited in brightness due to the short interaction length and only allow for limited dispersion engineering. Here, we present an integrated PDC source based on a Ti:LiNbO3 waveguide that generates broadband bi-photons with central wavelengths at 860 nm and 2800 nm . Their spectral bandwidth exceeds 25 THz and is achieved by simultaneous matching of the group velocities (GVs) and cancellation of GV dispersion for the signal and idler field. We provide an intuitive understanding of the process by studying our source’s behavior at different temperatures and pump wavelengths, which agrees well with simulations.

DOI
10.1088/1367-2630/ad9f98

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Abstract The latest applications in ultrafast quantum metrology require bright, broadband bi-photon sources with one of the photons in the mid-infrared and the other in the visible to near infrared. However, existing sources based on bulk crystals are limited in brightness due to the short interaction length and only allow for limited dispersion engineering. Here, we present an integrated PDC source based on a Ti:LiNbO3 waveguide that generates broadband bi-photons with central wavelengths at 860 nm and 2800 nm . Their spectral bandwidth exceeds 25 THz and is achieved by simultaneous matching of the group velocities (GVs) and cancellation of GV dispersion for the signal and idler field. We provide an intuitive understanding of the process by studying our source’s behavior at different temperatures and pump wavelengths, which agrees well with simulations.
Broadband quantum light is a vital resource for quantum metrology and spectroscopy applications such as quantum optical coherence tomography or entangled two photon absorption. For entangled two photon absorption in particular, very high photon flux combined with high time-frequency entanglement is crucial for observing a signal. So far these conditions could be met by using high power lasers driving degenerate, type 0 bulk-crystal spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) sources. This naturally limits the available wavelength ranges and precludes deterministic splitting of the generated output photons. In this work we demonstrate an integrated two-colour SPDC source utilising a group-velocity matched lithium niobate waveguide, reaching both exceptional brightness 1.52⋅10 6 pairssmWGHz and large bandwidth (7.8 THz FWHM) while pumped with a few mW of continuous wave (CW) laser light. By converting a narrow band pump to broadband pulses the created photon pairs show correlation times of Δ τ ≈ 120 fs while maintaining the narrow bandwidth Δ ω p ≪ 1 MHz of the CW pump light, yielding strong time-frequency entanglement. Furthermore our process can be adapted to a wide range of central wavelengths.
Visible-infrared photon pair sources working in broadband mid-infrared region are useful for applications such as heralded mid-infrared single photon sources. Here, we demonstrate experimentally a wavelength variable visible-infrared photon pair source in the mid-infrared region over a wide spectral range of 2 to 5 μm. By changing the angle of the nonlinear crystal in the source, the observed wavelengths of the signal photons change from 600 to 965 nm, corresponding to the idler wavelengths in 1186-4694 nm.
Mid-infrared quantum light sources hold broad application prospects in fields such as gas sensing and infrared thermal imaging. However, currently used mid-infrared quantum entangled light sources primarily rely on bulk periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystals, which limits brightness and integration. This paper proposes a theoretical scheme based on lithium niobate thin films, in which 1556.9 nm pumping is used to generate entangled photon pairs with a central wavelength of 3113.8 nm. By optimizing the waveguide structure and periodic polarization design, type-II phase matching and group velocity matching are achieved. This enables transverse electric (TE)-polarized pump input to be down converted to generate photon pairs with TE and transverse magnetic (TM) polarizations. Furthermore, by combining a domain arrangement algorithm used for the customized design of polarization direction in PPLN waveguides, precise phase matching is achieved, resulting in a quantum light source with a purity as high as 0.999 and a brightness of 6.18×106\times 10^6×106 cps/mW, which is three orders of magnitude higher than that of the bulk PPLN crystal source. This study provides a promising solution for realizing high-brightness, high-purity on-chip quantum light sources in the mid-infrared band.
Summary form only given. Recent progress in quantum information processing has highlighted the benefits of integrated optic devices for quantum applications (e.g.[l]). The miniaturization of systems with increased complexity drastically reduces the required space and paves the way for future commercialization.In the past five years, several groups have demonstrated promising approaches to achieve quantum interference and photonic gates on-chip (e.g.[2]). However, in all of these experiments the preparation of the photon pairs has been performed outside the integrated devices employing bulk crystal parametric down-conversion (PDC) sources, while the efficient coupling between these sources and the integrated circuit remains as a bottleneck for the design of systems with increasing complexity. On the other hand remarkable efforts have been devoted to the development of integrated PDC sources for photon pair generation inside channel waveguides [3]. The main benefits of guided-wave PDC processes include high conversion efficiencies and spatial mode control. We combine the prospects of an efficient type-I PDC source based on Titanium-indiffused periodically poled Z-cut Lithium Niobate waveguides (Ti:PPLN) with a passive wavelength division demultiplexing coupler on-chip, shown in Figure 1. The coupler allows for excellent spatial separation generated photon pairs. The non-degenerate decay of pump photons at 532 nm into signal and idler photons provides us with a photon pair at wavelengths of 1575 nm and 800 nm, respectively. Thus low-loss fiber transmission of the prepared states at 1575 nm can be accomplished on the one hand, while on the other hand efficient heralding of conditioned states can be implemented with off-the-shelf silicon-based detectors. The quality and efficiency of our source was improved by the deposition of endface-coatings. This allows for the efficient launching of pump light into the waveguide and it simultaneously provides a close-toperfect transmission of signal and idler at the output of our source, reflecting the pump light by more than 99%. In conditioned coincidence measurements in the picosecond pulsed regime we achieved heralding of single photons with almost no influence of background radiation, expressed by high coincidences-toaccidentals ratios up to CAR > 7400. The preparation exceeded 60% of efficiency in the low pump power regime, accompanied with ultra-low second-order correlation functions of g(2) (0) <; 4.10-3. These figures of merit in conjunction with the integration of active and passive elements make our source a candidate for a basic building block in more complex and miniaturized quantum network realizations in the future.
We present the design and characterization of a guided-wave, bright, and highly frequency non-degenerate parametric down-conversion (PDC) source in thin-film lithium niobate. The source generates photon pairs with wavelengths of 815 nm and 1550 nm, linking the visible wavelength regime with telecommunication wavelengths. We confirm the high quality of the generated single photons by determining a value for the heralded second-order correlation function as low as g h (2) (0)=(6.7±1.1)⋅10 −3 . Furthermore, we achieve a high spectral brightness of 0.44·10 7 pairss⋅mW⋅GHz which is two orders of magnitude higher than sources based on weakly guiding waveguides. The shape of the PDC spectrum and the strong agreement between the effective and nominal bandwidth highlight our high fabrication quality of periodically poled waveguides. The good agreement between the measured and simulated spectral characteristics of our source demonstrates our excellent understanding of the PDC process. Our result is a valuable step towards practical and scalable quantum communication networks as well as photonic quantum computing.
Photon pairs from spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) are important for a wide range of quantum optics experiments with spectral properties such as their bandwidths often being a crucial concern. Here we show the generic existence of particular phase-matching conditions in quasi-phase-matched KTP, MgO:LN, and SLT crystals that lead to ultra-broadband, widely nondegenerate photon pairs. It is based on the existence of group-velocity-matched, far apart wavelength pairs and, for 2 mm long crystals, results in SPDC bandwidths between 15 and 25 THz for photon pairs with the idler photon in the technologically relevant mid-IR range of 3-5 μm and the signal photon in the near-IR below 1100 nm. We experimentally demonstrate this type of broadband phase matching in ppKTP crystals for photon pairs centered at 800 and 3800 nm and measure a bandwidth of 15 THz. This novel method of generating broadband photon pairs will be highly beneficial for SPDC-based imaging, spectroscopy, refractometry, and optical coherence tomography with undetected mid-IR photons.