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arXiv:2411.18740 · Physical Review A

Analytic solution to degenerate biphoton states generated in arrays of nonlinear waveguides

Jefferson Delgado-Quesada, David Barral, Kamel Bencheikh, Edgar A. Rojas-González

Published Jun 2, 2025• 5 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The arrays of nonlinear waveguides are a powerful integrated photonics platform for studying and manipulating quantum states of light. Also, they are a valuable resource for various quantum technologies. In this work, we employed a supermode approach to obtain an analytic solution to the evolution of degenerate biphoton states in arrays of nonlinear waveguides. The solution accounts for arrays of an arbitrary number of waveguides and coupling profiles. In addition, it provides an explicit analytic expression without the need of computationally-expensive steps. Actually, it only relies on the calculation of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the coupling matrix. In general, this needs to be performed numerically, but there are relevant instances in which analytic expressions are available. Thus, in certain cases, the procedure proposed here does not require the use of any numerical method. We analyze the general properties of the solution and show some application examples. Particularly, simple solutions that can be obtained by special symmetric injection profiles, the results for small arrays, and the properties of the propagation when only the center waveguide is pumped in a symmetric odd array. In addition, we present a proof-of-principle example on how to use the analytic solution to tackle inversion problems. That is, obtaining the initial conditions required to achieve a desired quantum state -- which is a valuable technological application. A relevant aspect of the method presented here is its scalability for large arrays due to the lack of resource-intensive steps -- both for the direct and inverse problems.

DOI
10.1103/n9yc-kz52

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The arrays of nonlinear waveguides are a powerful integrated photonics platform for studying and manipulating quantum states of light. Also, they are a valuable resource for various quantum technologies. In this work, we employed a supermode approach to obtain an analytic solution to the evolution of degenerate biphoton states in arrays of nonlinear waveguides. The solution accounts for arrays of an arbitrary number of waveguides and coupling profiles. In addition, it provides an explicit analytic expression without the need of computationally-expensive steps. Actually, it only relies on the calculation of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the coupling matrix. In general, this needs to be performed numerically, but there are relevant instances in which analytic expressions are available. Thus, in certain cases, the procedure proposed here does not require the use of any numerical method. We analyze the general properties of the solution and show some application examples. Particularly, simple solutions that can be obtained by special symmetric injection profiles, the results for small arrays, and the properties of the propagation when only the center waveguide is pumped in a symmetric odd array. In addition, we present a proof-of-principle example on how to use the analytic solution to tackle inversion problems. That is, obtaining the initial conditions required to achieve a desired quantum state -- which is a valuable technological application. A relevant aspect of the method presented here is its scalability for large arrays due to the lack of resource-intensive steps -- both for the direct and inverse problems.
We show that arrays of ${\ensuremath{\chi}}^{(2)}$ nonlinear waveguides in the second-harmonic generation regime are a promising source of continuous-variable entanglement. We indeed demonstrate analytically that optical arrays with an odd number of waveguides injected with the zero-eigenvalue fundamental supermode entangle this fundamental supermode with a collective harmonic field. Moreover, the fundamental individual modes are multipartite entangled and their entanglement grows with propagation length. The device is scalable, robust to losses, does not rely on specific values of nonlinearity and coupling, and is easily realized with current technology. It thus stands as an unprecedented candidate for generation of multipartite continuous-variable entanglement for optical quantum information processing.
Quantum entanglement became essential in understanding the non-locality of quantum mechanics. In optics, this non-locality can be demonstrated on impressively large length scales, as photons travel with the speed of light and interact only weakly with their environment. Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in nonlinear crystals provides an efficient source for entangled photon pairs, so-called biphotons. However, SPDC can also be implemented in nonlinear arrays of evanescently coupled waveguides which allows the generation and the investigation of correlated quantum walks of such biphotons in an integrated device. Here, we analytically and experimentally demonstrate that the biphoton degrees of freedom are entailed in an additional dimension, therefore the SPDC and the subsequent quantum random walk in one-dimensional arrays can be simulated through classical optical beam propagation in a two-dimensional photonic lattice. Thereby, the output intensity images directly represent the biphoton correlations and exhibit a clear violation of a Bell-like inequality.
Emerging optical and quantum computers require hardware capable of coherent transport of and operations on quantum states. Here, we investigate finite optical waveguide arrays with linear coupling as means of efficient and compact coherent state transfer. Coherent transfer with periodic state revivals is enabled by engineering coupling coefficients between neighbouring waveguides to yield commensurate eigenvalue spectrum. Particular cases of finite arrays have been actively studied to achieve the perfect state transfer by mirroring the input into the output state. We explore a much wider scope of coherent propagation and revivals of both the state amplitude and phase. We analytically solve the inverse eigenvalue problem to find the corresponding array coupling coefficients and use them to construct optical waveguide arrays that support full state revivals. We present analytical solutions for general arrays with 4 and 5 waveguides and for symmetric arrays with 7 and 9 waveguides. These solutions include previously proposed families of solutions based on equidistance between eigenvalues.
∗ both authors contributed equally Quantum entanglement, the non-separability of a multipartite wave function, became essential in understanding the non-locality of quantum mechanics. In optics, this non-locality can be demon-strated on impressively large length scales, as photons travel with the speed of light and interact only weakly with their environment. With the discovery of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in nonlinear crystals, an efficient source for entangled photon pairs, so-called biphotons, be-came available. It has recently been shown that SPDC can also be implemented in nonlinear arrays of evanescently coupled waveguides which allows the generation and the investigation of correlated quantum walks of such biphotons in an integrated device. Here, we analytically and experimentally demonstrate that the biphoton degrees of freedom are entailed in an additional spatial dimension, therefore the SPDC and the subsequent quantum random walk in one-dimensional (1D) arrays can be simulated through classical optical beam propagation in a two-dimensional (2D) photonic lattice. Thereby, the output intensity images directly represent the biphoton correlations and exhibit a clear violation of a Bell-type inequality. PACS numbers: 42.50.-p, 42.82.Et, 42.65.Lm
In the current quest for efficient and experimentally feasible platforms for implementation of multimode squeezing and entanglement in the continuous variable regime, we underpin and complement our results on the generation of versatile multimode entanglement and cluster states in nonlinear waveguide arrays presented by Barral et al., arXiv:1912.11154 [Phys. Rev. Appl. (to be published)]. We present detailed derivations of the equations that describe the propagation of light through this system, and then we focus on parameter regimes where these equations can be solved analytically. These analytical solutions build an intuition for the wide landscape of quantum states that are accessible through the activation of pumping, coupling, and measurement schemes. Furthermore, we showcase the acquired insights by using one of the identified analytical solutions to exhibit the generation, optimization, and scalability of spatial linear cluster states.
Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) plays a pivotal role in the field of quantum optics, especially in generating quantum entangled states. This study delves into utilizing the scattering tensor of nonlinear waveguide arrays to characterize the SPDC process and optimize its efficiency. By computing the pseudo-inverse of the third-order scattering tensor describing the nonlinear arrays for biphoton generation, we determine the optimal pump profile and array conditions that best approximate a desired output biphoton distribution. Counterintuitively, due to the diffraction of the pump beam, we find that the optimal biphoton correlation does not occur at positions corresponding to the maximum pumping in real space within the coupled nonlinear arrays. Our finding demonstrates that the scattering tensor method combined with universal beam-splitter meshes provides a promising route toward reconfigurable integrated quantum light sources.