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Optics Express

High-flux photon-pair source from electrically induced parametric down conversion after second-harmonic generation in single optical superlattice

Dong Huang, Weilong She

Published Jan 1, 2007• 11 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We present here a possible high-flux photon-pair source constructed by single lithium niobate optical superlattice (OSL) with a combined quasi-periodically and periodically poled structure, which is from the principle of electrically induced parametric down conversion (PDC) after second-harmonic generation (SHG), predicted by the united theory developed in this paper, in which SHG, PDC and electro-optic (EO) effect are comparably treated as two-order nonlinear effects. In the OSL, the e-polarized fundamental frequency photons are first converted to double frequency ones with the same polarization; then the PDC process is triggered by EO effect when the fundamental frequency photons are almost exhausted; finally, the double frequency photons are converted again to a series of two-photon pair of fundamental wave. It is demonstrated that at 100 degrees C, in a 20.2mm long OSL with a 30V / mm applied electric field, a 100MW/cm(2), 1080 nm laser beam can be translated to a flux of high-purity two-photon pairs with a conversion efficiency close to 100%; and for a longer OSL the pump intensity can be further lowered. The device can also act as an ultra-low field electro-optic switch.

DOI
10.1364/oe.15.008275

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Japanese Journal of Applied Physics•Nov 1, 2007•8 citations
We present here a possible high-flux photon-pair source constructed by single lithium niobate optical superlattice (OSL) with a combined quasi-periodically and periodically poled structure, which is from the principle of electrically induced parametric down conversion (PDC) after second-harmonic generation (SHG), predicted by the united theory developed in this paper, in which SHG, PDC and electro-optic (EO) effect are comparably treated as two-order nonlinear effects. In the OSL, the e-polarized fundamental frequency photons are first converted to double frequency ones with the same polarization; then the PDC process is triggered by EO effect when the fundamental frequency photons are almost exhausted; finally, the double frequency photons are converted again to a series of two-photon pair of fundamental wave. It is demonstrated that at 100 degrees C, in a 20.2mm long OSL with a 30V / mm applied electric field, a 100MW/cm(2), 1080 nm laser beam can be translated to a flux of high-purity two-photon pairs with a conversion efficiency close to 100%; and for a longer OSL the pump intensity can be further lowered. The device can also act as an ultra-low field electro-optic switch.
Broadband nonlinear optical devices play a critical role in both classical and quantum optics. Here, we design and fabricate a 6.82-mm-long step-chirped periodically poled lithium niobate~(CPPLN) waveguide on lithium niobate on insulator, which enables quasi-phase matching over a broad bandwidth for second-harmonic generation~(SHG) and spontaneous parametric down-conversion~(SPDC). The SHG achieves an average efficiency of 54.4\%/W/cm2^22 over the first-harmonic wavelength range of 1510~nm-1620~nm, paving the way for realizing SPDC across a wide range of pump wavelengths. For SPDC, by tuning the pump wavelength to 775~nm, 780~nm, and 785~nm, we achieve broadband photon-pair generation with a maximum full bandwidth and brightness up to 99~THz~(846~nm) and 20~GHz/mW/nm, respectively. Our findings provide an efficient and experiment-friendly approach for generating broadband photon pairs, which holds significant promise for advancing applications in quantum metrology.
Abstract Integrated photon-pair sources are crucial for scalable photonic quantum systems. Thin-film lithium niobate is a promising platform for on-chip photon-pair generation through spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). However, the device implementation faces practical challenges. Periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN), despite enabling flexible quasi-phase matching, suffers from poor fabrication reliability and device repeatability, while conventional modal phase matching (MPM) methods yield limited efficiencies due to inadequate mode overlaps. Here, we introduce a layer-poled lithium niobate (LPLN) nanophotonic waveguide for efficient photon-pair generation. It leverages layer-wise polarity inversion through electrical poling to break spatial symmetry and significantly enhance nonlinear interactions for MPM, achieving a notable normalized second-harmonic generation (SHG) conversion efficiency of 4615% W-1 cm-2. Through a cascaded SHG and SPDC process, we demonstrate photon-pair generation with a normalized brightness of 3.1×106 Hz nm-1 mW-2 in a 3.3 mm long LPLN waveguide, surpassing existing on-chip sources under similar operating configurations. Crucially, our LPLN waveguides offer enhanced fabrication reliability and reduced sensitivity to geometric variations and temperature fluctuations compared to PPLN devices. We expect LPLN to become a promising solution for on-chip nonlinear wavelength conversion and non-classical light generation, with immediate applications in quantum communication, networking, and on-chip photonic quantum information processing.
Broadband nonlinear optical devices play a critical role in both classical and quantum optics. Here, we design and fabricate a 6.82-mm-long step-chirped periodically poled lithium niobate (CPPLN) waveguide on lithium niobate on insulator, which enables quasi-phase matching over a broad bandwidth for second-harmonic generation (SHG) and spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). The SHG achieves an average efficiency of 91%/W/cm 2 over the first-harmonic wavelength range of 1510 nm–1620 nm, paving the way for realizing SPDC across a wide range of pump wavelengths. For SPDC, by tuning the pump wavelength to 775 nm, 780 nm, and 785 nm, we achieve broadband photon-pair generation with a maximum full bandwidth and brightness up to 99 THz (846 nm) and 21 MHz/mW/nm, respectively. Our findings provide an efficient and experiment-friendly approach for generating broadband photon pairs, which holds significant promise for advancing applications in quantum metrology.
We generate quantum-correlated photon pairs using cascaded χ ( 2 ) : χ ( 2 ) traveling-wave interactions for second-harmonic generation (SHG) and spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in a single periodically-poled thin-film lithium-niobate (TFLN) waveguide. When pulse-pumped at 50 MHz, a 4-mm-long poled region with nearly 300%/Wcm2 SHG peak efficiency yields a generated photon-pair probability of 7±0.2 × 10−4 with corresponding coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) of 13.6±0.7. The CAR is found to be limited by Stokes/anti-Stokes Raman-scattering noise generated primarily in the waveguide. A Raman peak of photon counts at 250 cm−1 Stokes shift from the fundamental-pump wavenumber suggests most of the noise that limits the CAR originates within the lithium niobate material of the waveguide.
Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) is a prime material for photonics thanks to a unique mix of properties, including strong electro-optical and nonlinear optical responses as well as a broad transparency window spanning the visible and near-infrared (NIR) range (0.35 to 4.5 μm). Despite the inherent challenges in the nanofabrication of LiNbO3, caused by its hardness and resistance to chemical etching, recent technical advances eventually enabled the realization of deeply sub-μm features in LiNbO3,thereby enabling a series of breakthroughs in the field of nano-and meta-photonics [1]. Nonlinear nano-optics has especially benefitted from such improvements thanks to the large second-order diagonal nonlinearity of LiNbO3. Several LiNbO3metasurfaces have been designed to enhance and steer second-harmonic generation (SHG) [1] emitted up to the visible range [2]. Similar designs were also exploited for generating photon pairs via spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) [3], a quantum process where a single photon is converted into two photons of the same total energy, see Fig. 1c (right).