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Applied Optics

High repetition rate correlated photon pair generation in integrated silicon nanowires

Xiang Zhang, Bryn A. Bell, Mark D. Pelusi, Jiakun He, Wei Geng, Yunchuan Kong, Philipp Zhang, Chunle Xiong, Benjamin J. Eggleton

Published Oct 16, 2017• 9 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Integrated single-photon sources are a key component for photonic quantum technology but are generally limited to low single-photon rates. For sources based on photon pair generation by four-wave mixing, increasing the repetition rate of pump laser pulses is a straightforward way to enhance the single-photon rate, but the benefits and practical limitations have not yet been demonstrated and analyzed in a CMOS-compatible platform. In this work, we demonstrate correlated photon pair generation in integrated silicon nanowires and systematically analyze the count rate and coincidence to accidental ratio as the pump rate is varied between 156.25 MHz and 10 GHz. We show that the highest useful pump rate is limited by the timing resolution of the single-photon detection system, and that in this regime, the nonlinear loss of the silicon nanowire does not have a significant effect on the single-photon generation.

DOI
10.1364/ao.56.008420

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Integrated single-photon sources are a key component for photonic quantum technology but are generally limited to low single-photon rates. For sources based on photon pair generation by four-wave mixing, increasing the repetition rate of pump laser pulses is a straightforward way to enhance the single-photon rate, but the benefits and practical limitations have not yet been demonstrated and analyzed in a CMOS-compatible platform. In this work, we demonstrate correlated photon pair generation in integrated silicon nanowires and systematically analyze the count rate and coincidence to accidental ratio as the pump rate is varied between 156.25 MHz and 10 GHz. We show that the highest useful pump rate is limited by the timing resolution of the single-photon detection system, and that in this regime, the nonlinear loss of the silicon nanowire does not have a significant effect on the single-photon generation.
Correlated photon pairs at 1.5μm are generated in a silicon wire waveguide (SWW) with a length of only 1.6mm. Experimental results show that the single-side count rates on both sides increase quadratically with pump light, indicating that photons are generated from the spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) processes. The quantum correlation property of the generated photons is demonstrated by the ratio between coincident and accidental coincident count rates. The highest ratio measured at room temperature is to be about 19, showing that generated photon pairs have strong quantum correlation property and low noise. What is more, the wavelength correlation property of the coincident count is also measured to demonstrate the correlated photon pair generation. The experimental results demonstrate that SWWs have great potential in on-chip integrated low-noise correlated photon pair sources at 1.5 μm.
Integrated silicon photonics has played an important role in advancing the applications of quantum information and quantum science. However, it is challenging to integrate all components with state-of-the-art performance using only a homogeneous platform. Here, by combining high nonlinearity and low losses in a heterogeneous silicon platform, we efficiently generate high-quality photon pairs through spontaneous four-wave mixing in a hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguide and route them off-chip through a low-loss silicon nitride waveguide. A record high coincidence-to-accidental ratio value of 1632.6 (±260.4) is achieved in this heterogeneous design with a photon pair generation rate of 1.94 MHz. We also showcase a wide range of multichannel photon sources with a coincidence-to-accidental ratio consistently around 200. Lastly, we measure heralded single-photons with the lowest g H (2) (0) of 0.1085 ± 0.0014. Our results demonstrate the heterogeneous silicon platform as an ideal platform for the efficient generation of photon pairs and off-chip routing with low losses. It also paves the way for a future hybrid photonic integrated circuit by collecting distinct features from different materials.
.We experimentally study the generation of correlated pairs of photons through four-wave mixing (FWM) in embedded silicon waveguides. The waveguides, which are designed to exhibit anomalous group-velocity dispersion at wavelengths near 1555 nm, allow phase matched FWM and thus efficient pair-wise generation of non-degenerate signal and idler photons. Photon counting measurements yield a coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) of around 25 for a signal (idler) photon production rate of about 0.05 per pulse. We characterize the variation in CAR as a function of pump power and pump-to-sideband wavelength detuning. These measurements represent a first step towards the development of tools for quantum information processing which are based on CMOS-compatible, silicon-on-insulator technology.
Integrated Silicon photonics has played an important role in advancing the applications of quantum information and quantum science. However, due to different material properties, it is challenging to integrate all components with excellent performance based on homogeneous material. Here, by combining high nonlinearity and low losses in a heterogeneous silicon platform, we efficiently generate high-quality photon pairs through spontaneous four-wave mixing in hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguide and route them off-chip through low loss silicon nitride waveguide. A record high coincidence- to- accidental rate value of 1632.6 (±\pm± 260.4) is achieved in this heterogeneous design with a photon pair generation rate of 1.94 MHz. We also showcase a wide range of multi-channel photon sources with coincidence- to- accidental rate consistently at 200. Lastly, we measure heralded single-photons with a lowest gH(2)(0)g^{(2)}_H(0)gH(2)​(0) of 0.1085 ±\pm± 0.0014. Our results demonstrate the heterogeneous silicon platform as an ideal platform for efficient generation of photon pairs and routing them off-chip with low losses. It also paves a way for the future hybrid photonic integrated circuit by collecting distinct features from different materials.
The growing requirement for photon pairs with specific spectral correlations in quantum optics experiments has created a demand for fast, high resolution and accurate source characterisation. A promising tool for such characterisation uses classical stimulated processes, in which an additional seed laser stimulates photon generation yielding much higher count rates, as recently demonstrated for a χ(2) integrated source in A. Eckstein et al. Laser Photon. Rev. 8, L76 (2014). In this work we extend these results to χ(3) integrated sources, directly measuring for the first time the relation between spectral correlation measurements via stimulated and spontaneous four wave mixing in an integrated optical waveguide, a silicon nanowire. We directly confirm the speed-up due to higher count rates and demonstrate that this allows additional resolution to be gained when compared to traditional coincidence measurements without any increase in measurement time. As the pump pulse duration can influence the degree of spectral correlation, all of our measurements are taken for two different pump pulse widths. This allows us to confirm that the classical stimulated process correctly captures the degree of spectral correlation regardless of pump pulse duration, and cements its place as an essential characterisation method for the development of future quantum integrated devices.
In this paper, correlated photon pairs at 1.55μm are generated in a silicon wire waveguidewith a length of 1.6 mm. The ratio between coincidence count rate and accidental coincidence count rate under room temperature is 19, showing the property of low Raman noise and strong quantum correlation. Moreover, the experiment shows that photon pair generation isstrongly dependent on pump polarization direction. Using quantum perturbation theory, we analyze the contribution of scalar and vectorspontaneous four-wave mixing processes to the generated photon pairs. Due tohigh nonlinear coefficient and high coupling efficiency, the generation rate in quasi-TE mode is much larger than that in quasi-TM mode.The combination of calculated photon pair generation rates through scalar and vector spontaneous four-wave mixing processes agrees well with the experimental result.