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Optics Express

Classical low-coherence interferometry based on broadband parametric fluorescence and amplification

Julien Le Gouët, Dheera Venkatraman, Franco N. C. Wong, Jeffrey H. Shapiro

Published Sep 22, 2009• 13 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate that single-mode broadband amplified spontaneous parametric downconversion, combined with optical parametric amplification, can be used as a classical source of phase-sensitive cross-correlated beams. We first study the single spatial mode emission and the spectral brightness properties of the parametric fluorescence, produced in periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate. Using the same single-pass bulk-crystal configuration for a pulsed optical parametric amplifier, we achieve a gain of approximately 20 dB at an average pump power of 2W, and explain the pulse narrowing observed at the output of both parametric fluorescence and amplification in the regime of high gain. Combining these two nonlinear processes, we measured optical coherence tomography signals with standard InGaAs photodiodes, thus realizing the first classical interferometer based on amplified parametric fluorescence. The results suggest their utility for demonstrating phase-conjugate optical coherence tomography.

DOI
10.1364/oe.17.017874

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We demonstrate that single-mode broadband amplified spontaneous parametric downconversion, combined with optical parametric amplification, can be used as a classical source of phase-sensitive cross-correlated beams. We first study the single spatial mode emission and the spectral brightness properties of the parametric fluorescence, produced in periodically poled MgO-doped lithium niobate. Using the same single-pass bulk-crystal configuration for a pulsed optical parametric amplifier, we achieve a gain of approximately 20 dB at an average pump power of 2W, and explain the pulse narrowing observed at the output of both parametric fluorescence and amplification in the regime of high gain. Combining these two nonlinear processes, we measured optical coherence tomography signals with standard InGaAs photodiodes, thus realizing the first classical interferometer based on amplified parametric fluorescence. The results suggest their utility for demonstrating phase-conjugate optical coherence tomography.
Abstract Nonlinear interferometry with entangled photons allows for characterizing a sample without detecting the photons interacting with it. This method enables highly sensitive optical sensing in the wavelength regions where efficient detectors are still under development. Recently, nonlinear interferometry has been applied to interferometric measurement techniques with broadband light sources, such as Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy and infrared optical coherence tomography. However, they have been demonstrated with photon pairs produced through spontaneous parametric down‐conversion (SPDC) at a low parametric gain, where the average number of photons per mode is much smaller than one. The regime of high‐gain SPDC offers several important advantages, such as the amplification of light after its interaction with the sample and a large number of photons per mode at the interferometer output. This work presents broadband spectroscopy and high‐resolution optical coherence tomography with undetected photons generated via high‐gain SPDC in an aperiodically poled lithium niobate crystal. To prove the principle, reflective Fourier‐transform near‐infrared spectroscopy with a spectral bandwidth of 17 THz and optical coherence tomography with an axial resolution of 11 µm are demonstrated.
High-gain optical parametric amplification is an important nonlinear process used both as a source of coherent infrared light and as a source of nonclassical light. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate an approach to optical parametric amplification that enables extremely large parametric gains with low energy requirements. In conventional nonlinear media driven by femtosecond pulses, multiple dispersion orders limit the effective interaction length available for parametric amplification. Here, we use the dispersion engineering available in periodically poled thin-film lithium niobate nanowaveguides to eliminate several dispersion orders at once. The result is a quasi-static process; the large peak intensity associated with a short pump pulse can provide gain to signal photons without undergoing pulse distortion or temporal walk-off. We characterize the parametric gain available in these waveguides using optical parametric generation, where vacuum fluctuations are amplified to macroscopic intensities. In the unsaturated regime, we observe parametric gains as large as 71 dB (118 dB/cm) spanning 1700–2700 nm with pump energies of only 4 pJ. When driven with pulse energies > 10 p J , we observe saturated parametric gains as large as 88 dB ( > 146 d B / c m ). The devices shown here achieve saturated optical parametric generation with orders of magnitude less pulse energy than previous techniques.
An optical parametric amplifier (OPA) has been demonstrated in bulk, periodically poled lithium niobate and is shown to operate with a noise figure well below the classical limit. In contrast to conventional OPA's, this device uses quasi-phase matching to provide the coupling between the pump and the signal. Comparison of the measured performance with that of a theoretical model reveals that the main intrinsic contribution to the output noise is due to spatial and temporal mode mixing, which arises as a consequence of tight focusing of the incident beams. Factors that affect the performance of this amplifier are identified theoretically and their relative importance investigated for both amplification and squeezing.
We report on the observation of broadband (40 THz) bright twin beams through high-gain parametric downconversion in an aperiodically poled lithium niobate crystal. The output photon number is shown to scale exponentially with the pump power and not with the pump amplitude, as in homogeneous crystals. Photon number correlations and the number of frequency/temporal modes are assessed by spectral covariance measurements. By using sum-frequency generation on the surface of a non-phase-matched crystal, we measure a cross-correlation peak with the temporal width of 90 fs. (C) 2018 Optical Society of America
Optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) are promising to overcome the wavelength coverage and noise limitations in conventional optical amplifiers based on rare-earth doping and semiconductor gain. However, the high power requirement remains a major obstacle to the widespread use of OPAs. Integrated OPAs can in principle improve the pump efficiency with tight mode confinement; however, challenges associated with propagation loss, limited nonlinearity, and susceptibility to nanoscale fabrication imperfections prevent them from competing with conventional bulk and fiber-based OPAs. Here, we demonstrate a highly efficient integrated OPAs with continuous-wave net gain. The pump efficiency is improved by over one order of magnitude. Phase-sensitive gain of 23.5 dB is demonstrated, significantly exceeding previous integrated OPAs, using only 110 mW pump power and no cavity enhancement. This is achieved with parametric down-conversion in thin-film lithium niobate waveguides using the adapted poling technique to maintain the coherence of nonlinear interactions. Moreover, the high parametric gain exceeds fibre-chip-fibre losses, leading to appreciable net gain up to 10 dB. The 3 dB bandwidth is approximately 120 nm, covering telecommunication S-, C-, and Lbands. Quantum-limited noise performance is confirmed through the measurement of output field fluctuation below the classical limit. We further demonstrate that signalto-noise ratio in noisy optical communications can be increased by leveraging this efficient integrated OPA. Our work marks a significant step towards ideal optical amplifiers with strong amplification, high efficiency, quantum-limited noise, large bandwidth, and continuous-wave operation, unlocking new possibilities for next-generation photonic information processing systems.