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東北大学電通談話会記録

Study on the Performance of a Single Photon Source Based on a Silicon Micro-ring Resonator

Fan Yang

Published Mar 4, 2021• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Recently, many researchers focus on the integration of single photon sources on an optical chip toward the realization of large-scale quantum information processing.Identical single photons are required to obtain good interference between photons for quantum information processing, for which high "spectral purity" of single photons is required.An appealing scheme is employing the spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in a silicon micro-ring resonator (MRR) because it allows us to generate high-purity photons without external spectral filters.However, the purity value is limited to 0.92 due to the dispersion property of an MRR We have developed a new scheme to further increase the spectral purity from an MRR by manipulating the spectral phase distribution of the pump pulse.Via exploring several strategies on the spectral phase modulation, we found that the purity of single photon can be increased up to approximately 0.96 breaking the conventional limitation of 0.92 in a standard MRR.We further explore the experimental feasibility of the scheme toward future implementation.

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•May 6, 2025•0 citations
Recently, many researchers focus on the integration of single photon sources on an optical chip toward the realization of large-scale quantum information processing.Identical single photons are required to obtain good interference between photons for quantum information processing, for which high "spectral purity" of single photons is required.An appealing scheme is employing the spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in a silicon micro-ring resonator (MRR) because it allows us to generate high-purity photons without external spectral filters.However, the purity value is limited to 0.92 due to the dispersion property of an MRR We have developed a new scheme to further increase the spectral purity from an MRR by manipulating the spectral phase distribution of the pump pulse.Via exploring several strategies on the spectral phase modulation, we found that the purity of single photon can be increased up to approximately 0.96 breaking the conventional limitation of 0.92 in a standard MRR.We further explore the experimental feasibility of the scheme toward future implementation.
The high Kerr coefficient of amorphous silicon makes it a promising material for generating photons on chip via spontaneous four wave mixing (SFWM), for applications in quantum photonics. Previous work shows high photon generation rates in a-Si waveguides, [1], and here we expand this study to investigate micro-ring resonator photon sources, which have a small footprint and can produce photons with high spectral purity, ideal for quantum interference. We compare SFWM generation rates in an a-Si micro-ring resonator to a straight waveguide, in both continuous wave and pulsed pump regimes.
Fully integrated high spectral purity photon-pair sources represent critical core components for scalable photonic quantum information processing systems. While micro-ring resonator based single-photon sources demonstrate superior integration capabilities, their spectral purity typically suffers from a theoretical upper bound below 92% in the absence of narrow-band spectral filtering, rendering it inadequate for advanced quantum applications. This work successfully implements an on-chip dual-pulse controlled photon pair generation architecture on a complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible silicon photonic platform, achieving high spectral purity exceeding 98% by optimizing the beam splitting ratio and adjusting the relative time delay between the two pulses. Furthermore, to mitigate operating point drift in the micro-ring photon-pair generator induced by micro-heater current variations during testing, we developed a power control algorithm that locks the micro-ring resonance to the corresponding frequency of the shaped optical pulse, significantly improving long-term system stability.
We experimentally demonstrate a high-spectral-purity photon source by designing a dual-Mach–Zehnder-interferometer-coupled silicon ring resonator, wherein the linewidths of pump and signal (idler) resonances can be engineered independently. A high spectral purity of 95 % ± 1.5 % is obtained via a time-integrated g ( 2 ) correlation measurement, which exceeds the theoretical 93% bound of a traditional ring’s spontaneous four-wave-mixing photon source. This source also possesses high performance in other metrics including a measured coincidence of 9599 pairs/s and a preparation heralding efficiency of 52.4% at a relatively low pump power of 61 µW as well as high drop-to-through suppression of 20.2 dB. By overcoming the trade-off between spectral purity and brightness in the post-filtering way, such a method guarantees bright pure photons and will pave the way for development of on-chip quantum information processing with improved operation fidelity and efficiency.
Photonic chips with silicon nitride (Si3N4\mathrm{Si_3N_4}Si3​N4​) microring resonators are well established as heralded single-photon sources, but their operation as frequency-degenerate twin-photon sources has not previously been demonstrated. Here, we realise a twin-photon source at telecommunication wavelengths in a Si3N4\mathrm{Si_3N_4}Si3​N4​ ring microresonator via an inverse four-wave mixing (FWM) process, in which two photons from spectrally distinct pumps are converted into a pair of identical twin photons. The measurements show a maximum coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) of 5.4±0.65.4\pm0.65.4±0.6. In addition, the microresonator functions as a heralded single-photon source through pump-degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM), exhibiting a spectral purity of P=0.67±0.05P=0.67\pm0.05P=0.67±0.05 and a heralded anti-bunching of gh(2)(0)=0.0042±0.0015g^{(2)}_h(0)=0.0042\pm0.0015gh(2)​(0)=0.0042±0.0015. Together, these results demonstrate both photon-generation schemes on a single integrated Si3N4\mathrm{Si_3N_4}Si3​N4​ platform, highlighting its potential for scalable, tailored quantum light generation.
Abstract Cavity-enhanced spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in microring resonators (MRRs) provides an effcient route to produce integrated photon sources. Despite the largely improved spectral purity without lossy filtering, standard MRR SFWM sources pumped by conventional single-pulses are still limited to 92% purity because all modes share the same Lorentzian lineshape, hindering their use in applications requiring near-unity purity. Here, we address this problem by proposing a pump-engineering scheme that uses a single Fabry–Pérot cavity to shape the pump by reflection. We show that the pump linewidth in the MRR is broadened well beyond the signal and idler linewidths and the spectral purity can approach unity. Our scheme is robust to MRR parameter deviations and can be applied to both all-pass and add-drop MRRs, offering a practical route to high-purity integrated photon sources.
Heralded single photon sources generated through spontaneous four wave mixing in silicon microring resonators are highly demanding for large-scale integrated quantum photonics. However, the spectral purity of conventional microring resonators is limited to 93%, which impacts the quality of quantum interference within photonic circuits. The wavelength dependent coupling between ring and bus waveguides plays a significant role in the generation/heralding of single photons from the resonator. In this letter, we have presented a detailed investigation of the dispersive nature of relatively long directional couplers in order to design a microring resonator in all-pass configuration for chip-scale generation of single photons with maximum purity. In our studies, we have shown that a photon purity level close to 99% (λ ∼ 1550 nm) can be achieved by the use of a dispersive directional coupler in a race-track microring resonator in all-pass configuration, without affecting the photon heralding rate. The design parameters of the device are optimized such that it can be fabricated in commercial CMOS foundries.