Optical-frequency combs consisting of equally spaced sharp lines in frequency space have triggered substantial advances in optical-frequency metrology and precision measurements and in applications such as laser-based gas sensing and molecular fingerprinting. Here, we propose a scheme to generate a type of optical-frequency combs and convert them from one cavity to the other in a hybrid optical system composed of a pair of coupled photonic crystal cavities called a photonic molecule (PM) and a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD) embedded in one cavity of the molecule. Optical-frequency combs are formed by the interaction between a cavity mode and a continuous-wave (CW) two-tone driving laser consisting of a pump field and a seed field via QD-induced strong nonlinearity. In this situation, the initial input pump and seed CW lasers can interact among each other and produce optical higher-order sidebands with equal spacing via parametric frequency conversion provided by QD-induced nonlinear optical effects. Using numerical simulations, it is clearly shown that the beat frequency of the two-tone components plays an important role in determining the comb spacing and matched frequency combs can be formed in the PM. We also demonstrate that the present interacting QD-PM system can serve as a platform to generate large-scale quantum entanglement between two comb modes. The results obtained here may be useful for real experiments in a photonic crystal platform.
Optical-frequency combs consisting of equally spaced sharp lines in frequency space have triggered substantial advances in optical-frequency metrology and precision measurements and in applications such as laser-based gas sensing and molecular fingerprinting. Here, we propose a scheme to generate a type of optical-frequency combs and convert them from one cavity to the other in a hybrid optical system composed of a pair of coupled photonic crystal cavities called a photonic molecule (PM) and a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD) embedded in one cavity of the molecule. Optical-frequency combs are formed by the interaction between a cavity mode and a continuous-wave (CW) two-tone driving laser consisting of a pump field and a seed field via QD-induced strong nonlinearity. In this situation, the initial input pump and seed CW lasers can interact among each other and produce optical higher-order sidebands with equal spacing via parametric frequency conversion provided by QD-induced nonlinear optical effects. Using numerical simulations, it is clearly shown that the beat frequency of the two-tone components plays an important role in determining the comb spacing and matched frequency combs can be formed in the PM. We also demonstrate that the present interacting QD-PM system can serve as a platform to generate large-scale quantum entanglement between two comb modes. The results obtained here may be useful for real experiments in a photonic crystal platform.
We propose a scheme for high-order sideband generation (HSG) by utilizing strong coupling between a single quantum dot (QD) and a photonic crystal cavity beyond the weak-excitation approximation. Here the hybrid system is coherently driven by an external bichromatic field consisting of a continuous-wave (cw) control field and a cw probe field. We take account of nonlinear terms in the Heisenberg-Langevin equations, i.e., the nonlinear nature of the QD, and give an effective method to deal with such a problem. It is shown, due to the presence of nonlinear terms, that the HSG with large intensities can be realized with experimentally achievable system parameters. This investigation may provide further insight into the understanding of solid-state cavity quantum electrodynamics system and find applications in optical comb and communication in a photonic crystal platform. In addition, the present theory can also be applied to other similar systems, such as a single quantum emitter positioned close to a microtoroidal resonator with the whispering-gallery-mode fields propagating inside the resonator.
We explore theoretically the generation and all-optical control of optical frequency combs (OFCs) in photon transmission based on a combination of single-atom-cavity quantum electrodynamics (CQED) and electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). Here an external control field is used to form the cavity dark mode of the CQED system. When the strengths of the applied EIT control field are appropriately tuned, enhanced comb generation can be achieved. We discuss the properties of the dark mode and clearly show that the formation of the dark mode enables the efficient generation of OFCs. In our approach, the comb spacing is determined by the beating frequency between the driving pump and seed lasers. Our demonstrated theory may pave the way towards all-optical coherent control of OFCs using a CQED architecture.
We propose a scheme for optical high-order sideband generation and efficient sideband information transfer from one optical mode to the other in a hybrid system consisting of a quantum dot coupled to both modes of a lossy bimodal photonic crystal cavity. Here one mode of the cavity is coherently driven by a two-tone continuous-wave laser field and the two cavity modes are not coupled to each other due to their orthogonal polarizations. The influences of the system parameters including the cavity-waveguide coupling rate and all kinds of relative detunings on optical high-order sideband generation and transfer efficiency are discussed. In addition to numerical simulations demonstrating this effect, a physical explanation of the underlying mechanism and an experimental feasibility of the proposed bimodal cavity scheme are also presented. Due to an intrinsic highly multimode sideband structure in the proposed scheme, the ability to engineer and convert photons between different frequencies in a solid-state approach has extensive technological implications not only for classical communication systems, but also future integrated quantum networks.
Based on a single atom coupled to a fiber-coupled, chip-based microresonator [B. Dayan et al., Science 319, 1062 (2008)], we put forward a scheme to generate optical frequency combs at driving laser powers as low as a few nanowatts. Using state-of-the-art experimental parameters, we investigate in detail the influences of different atomic positions and taper-resonator coupling regimes on optical-frequency-comb generation. In addition to numerical simulations demonstrating this effect, a physical explanation of the underlying mechanism is presented. We find that the combination of the atom and the resonator can induce a large third-order nonlinearity which is significantly stronger than Kerr nonlinearity in Kerr frequency combs. Such enhanced nonlinearity can be used to generate optical frequency combs if driven with two continuous-wave control and probe lasers and significantly reduce the threshold of nonlinear optical processes. The comb spacing can be well tuned by changing the frequency beating between the driving control and probe lasers. The proposed method is versatile and can be adopted to different types of resonators, such as microdisks, microspheres, microtoroids or microrings.
Abstract Due to their frequency scaling and long-term coherence, frequency combs at the single-photon level can provide a fascinating platform for developments in quantum technology. Here we demonstrate frequency comb single-photon interferometry in an unheralded manner. We are able to induce coherence by erasing the which-way information of path-entangled photon pairs. The photon pairs are prepared using a dual parametric down-conversion pumped by a highly stable frequency comb laser and an ultra-narrow seed laser. This is conducted at the extremely low-conversion efficiency regime. The unique feature of our quantum interferometer is that the induced one-photon interference of the path-encoded single photons (signal), with multiple frequency components, is observed with a unit visibility without heralding conjugate photons (idler). We demonstrate that quantum information and frequency comb technology can be combined to realize quantum information platforms. We expect this will contribute to the application of quantum information and optical measurements beyond the classical limit.
The on-chip generation of large and complex optical quantum states will enable low-cost and accessible advances for quantum technologies, such as secure communications and quantum computation. Integrated frequency combs are on-chip light sources with a broad spectrum of evenly-spaced frequency modes, commonly generated by four-wave mixing in optically-excited nonlinear micro-cavities, whose recent use for quantum state generation has provided a solution for scalable and multi-mode quantum light sources. Pulsed quantum frequency combs are of particular interest, since they allow the generation of single-frequency-mode photons, required for scaling state complexity towards, e.g., multi-photon states, and for quantum information applications. However, generation schemes for such pulsed combs have, to date, relied on micro-cavity excitation via lasers external to the sources, being neither versatile nor power-efficient, and impractical for scalable realizations of quantum technologies. Here, we introduce an actively-modulated, nested-cavity configuration that exploits the resonance pass-band characteristic of the micro-cavity to enable a mode-locked and energy-efficient excitation. We demonstrate that the scheme allows the generation of high-purity photons at large coincidence-to-accidental ratios (CAR). Furthermore, by increasing the repetition rate of the excitation field via harmonic mode-locking (i.e. driving the cavity modulation at harmonics of the fundamental repetition rate), we managed to increase the pair production rates (i.e. source efficiency), while maintaining a high CAR and photon purity. Our approach represents a significant step towards the realization of fully on-chip, stable, and versatile sources of pulsed quantum frequency combs, crucial for the development of accessible quantum technologies.