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Fibers

Photon-Pair Sources Based on Intermodal Four-Wave Mixing in Few-Mode Fibers

Karsten K. Rottwitt, Jacob G. Koefoed, Erik Nicolai Christensen

Published May 21, 2018• 35 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Four-wave mixing in optical fibers has been proven to have many applications within processing of classical optical signals. In addition, recent developments in multimode fibers have made it possible to achieve the necessary phase-matching for efficient four-wave mixing over a very wide bandwidth. Thus, the combination of multimode fiber optics and four-wave mixing is very attractive for various applications. This is especially the case for applications in quantum communication, for example in photon-pair generation. This is the subject of this work, where we discuss the impact of fluctuations in core radius on the quality of the heralded single-photon states and demonstrate experimental results of intermodal spontaneous four-wave mixing for photon-pair generation.

DOI
10.3390/fib6020032

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Four-wave mixing in optical fibers has been proven to have many applications within processing of classical optical signals. In addition, recent developments in multimode fibers have made it possible to achieve the necessary phase-matching for efficient four-wave mixing over a very wide bandwidth. Thus, the combination of multimode fiber optics and four-wave mixing is very attractive for various applications. This is especially the case for applications in quantum communication, for example in photon-pair generation. This is the subject of this work, where we discuss the impact of fluctuations in core radius on the quality of the heralded single-photon states and demonstrate experimental results of intermodal spontaneous four-wave mixing for photon-pair generation.
We experimentally demonstrate the various intermodal and intramodal four-wave mixing processes in a few-mode fiber with three modes using non-degenerate pumps. We distinguish the processes by calculating their phase mismatch and identify the intermodal spontaneous four-wave mixing process that generates entangled photon pairs in various modes. We achieve this using continuous-wave beams and the seeding technique due to the low efficiency of the spontaneous four-wave mixing effect in the fiber. We seeded the Stokes and anti-Stokes waves and measured the spectral content of each mode while moving the seed away from the perfect phase-matched condition in the fiber under test. We observe that the closer the seed gets to the pumps, the higher the efficiency of the four-wave mixing process.
The strong interest in space-division multiplexing of classical communication signals has resulted in development of optical fibers that support propagation of multiple modes. This has paved the way for progress in signal processing using multiple modes and four-wave mixing between these. More specifically, careful design and knowledge of optical properties of individual modes enables phase matching in four-wave mixing that is otherwise not possible with single-mode fibers. This enables signal processing using four-wave mixing between higher-order modes for e.g. frequency conversion over a wide bandwidth. In addition, processing and creation of quantum states has also been demonstrated using four-wave mixing, including generation of photon pairs. In this work we review recent progress in signal processing and generation of quantum states using four-wave mixing.
We report our recent progress in generating and verifying entangled photon pairs in a telecommunication-length few-mode fiber using spontaneous four-wave mixing in a non-degenerate pump configuration. We demonstrate through seeding the desired four-wave mixing effect for pair production in the presence of a strong mode-coupling when using integrated mode multiplexers known as photonic lanterns. The mode content and phase-matching requirements were validated through computations and experiments. We discuss the challenges and requirements for phase matching and photon visibility without modifying the fiber structure. This work represents our first steps toward an efficient tunable source of entangled photons for space division multiplexing applications.
Being able to generate and process quantum states are essential functionalities in quantum communication. Examples of the processing include conversion of the wavelength of quantum states or modification of their temporal shape. The combined use of four-wave mixing and higher order modes in optical fibers has enabled such functionalities. The use of intermodal four-wave mixing among higher order modes, enable frequency conversion over a wavelength bandwidth, large enough to avoid spontaneous Raman scattering, which is otherwise detrimental for quantum communication. The process of intermodal four-wave mixing furthermore has the advantage that the same process may be used to generate single photon states. We review recent results on the use of intermodal four-wave mixing in optical multi-mode fibers for quantum information science and show a theoretical/numerical model that may be used to predict the performance of quantum state processing devices based on four-wave mixing.
We present a theoretical and experimental study of the generation of photon pairs through the process of spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in a few-mode, birefringent fiber. Under these conditions, multiple SFWM processes are in fact possible, each associated with a different combination of transverse modes for the four waves involved. We show that in the weakly guiding regime, for which the propagation modes may be well approximated by linearly polarized modes, the departure from circular symmetry due to the fiber birefringence translates into conservation rules, which retain elements from azimuthal and rectangular symmetries: both OAM and parity must be conserved for a process to be viable. We have implemented a SFWM source based on a bowtie birefringent fiber, and have measured for a collection of pump wavelengths the SFWM spectra of each of the signal and idler photons in coincidence with its partner photon. We have used this information, together with knowledge of the transverse modes into which the signal and idler photons are emitted, as input for a genetic algorithm, which accomplishes two tasks: (i) the identification of the particular SFWM processes that are present in the source, and (ii) the characterization of the fiber used.
Abstract The theoretical and experimental investigation results of the generation of the polarization-entangled photon pairs operating at visible wavelengths are reported. The generation of polarization-entangled photon pairs was based on intermodal spontaneous four-wave mixing (IM-SFWM) using standard step-index few-mode fiber. It was shown theoretically that several combinations of IM-SFWM processes could occur depending on spatial modes of a pump beam. A polarization-entangled photon pair source based on Sagnac loop incorporating a segment of few-mode fiber were then experimentally created. A two-photon interference fringe visibility of our implemented photon pair source were 91.7% and 88.8% in H/V bases and D/A bases, respectively. A quantum state tomography was also conducted to reconstruct the density matrix of the generated state with a fidelity to a maximum entangled state of 93.1%.