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Optics Letters

Coherent phase and frequency detection by using sum-frequency mixing in nonlinear waveguides

Siegfried Janz, Edward Frlan, Hongxing Dai, F. Chatenoud, Richard J. F. Normandin

Published Dec 1, 1992• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate a novel optical phase detector that uses sum-frequency mixing in a nonlinear waveguide. By monitoring the near-field pattern of the sum-frequency light radiated from the waveguide surface, the relative phase of two input light beams can be measured. By using an Al(x)Ga(1-x)As waveguide optimized for sum-frequency generation with lambda = 1.06 microm input light, we demonstrate a simple phase detector capable of resolving phase shifts of less than 0.2 rad. This phase detector is also used in an interferometer configuration as a gigahertz-resolution frequency monitor.

DOI
10.1364/ol.17.001718

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Scientific Reports•Feb 15, 2016•41 citations
We demonstrate a novel optical phase detector that uses sum-frequency mixing in a nonlinear waveguide. By monitoring the near-field pattern of the sum-frequency light radiated from the waveguide surface, the relative phase of two input light beams can be measured. By using an Al(x)Ga(1-x)As waveguide optimized for sum-frequency generation with lambda = 1.06 microm input light, we demonstrate a simple phase detector capable of resolving phase shifts of less than 0.2 rad. This phase detector is also used in an interferometer configuration as a gigahertz-resolution frequency monitor.
We demonstrate the coherent frequency conversion of structured light, optical beams in which the phase varies in each point of the transverse plane, from the near infrared (803nm) to the visible (527nm). The frequency conversion process makes use of sum-frequency generation in a periodically poled lithium niobate (ppLN) crystal with the help of a 1540-nm Gaussian pump beam. We perform far-field intensity measurements of the frequency-converted field, and verify the sought-after transformation of the characteristic intensity and phase profiles for various input modes. The coherence of the frequency-conversion process is confirmed using a mode-projection technique with a phase mask and a single-mode fiber. The presented results could be of great relevance to novel applications in high-resolution microscopy and quantum information processing.
Phase-sensitive detection can be realized optically by using degenerate four-wave mixing in photorefractive materials. Phase-sensitive detectors or lock-in amplifiers use a reference-triggered phase-sensitive mixer followed by a time-integrating low-pass filter. Mixing the two signals gives sum- and difference-frequency outputs, and a low-pass filter extracts the difference frequency. The phase encoded in the photorefractive hologram relative to the reference beam provides the mixing, and the response time of photorefractive material provides the time integration. Correctly modulating only the phase of the reference beam at a period much shorter than the photorefractive response time eliminates the phase-conjugate beam. Then modulating the phase of the signal input beam in the same waveform, but at a slightly different frequency from the reference, produces an oscillating phase-conjugate intensity. When the modulation frequencies of the two beams are phase-locked, a stable phase-conjugate signal is obtained with an intensity determined by the relative phase shift. These optical phase-sensitive detection experiments agree with calculations from dynamic photorefractive theory for the phase-conjugate intensity.
In this paper, we reveal that some kinds of optical nonlinearities are further enhanced when incoherent light, instead of a laser, is used as a pump light. This idea was confirmed both theoretically and experimentally in the case of sum-frequency generation (SFG) using the optical second nonlinearity. The conversion efficiency of the SFG with incoherent light pumping increased as the bandwidth of the incoherent pump light decreased, finally reaching twice the conversion efficiency of conventional second harmonic generation (SHG) by laser pumping. This method dramatically relaxes the severe requirements of phase matching in the nonlinear optical process. The conversion efficiency became less sensitive to misalignment of the wavelength of pump light and also of device operation temperature when the bandwidth of the incoherent pump light was sufficiently broad, although the improvement of the conversion efficiency had an inverse relationship with the insensitivity to the phase-matching condition. The temperature tuning range was enhanced by more than two orders of magnitude in comparison with the conventional SHG method. As an example of a promising application of this new idea, we performed the generation of quantum entangled photon-pairs using cascaded optical nonlinearities (SFG and the subsequent spontaneous parametric down conversion) in a single periodically poled LiNbO3 waveguide device, in which the incoherent light was used as the pump source for both the parametric processes. We have achieved high fidelity exceeding 99% in quantum-state tomography experiments.
We demonstrate sum-frequency generation between a telecom wavelength and the Rb D2 line, achieved through natural phase matching in a nonlinear whispering gallery mode resonator. Due to the strong optical field confinement and ultra high Q of the cavity, the process saturates already at sub-mW pump peak power, at least two orders of magnitude lower than in existing waveguide-based devices. The experimental data are in agreement with the nonlinear dynamics and phase matching theory based on spherical geometry. Our experimental and theoretical results point toward a new platform for manipulating the color and quantum states of light waves for applications such as atomic memory based quantum networking and logic operations with optical signals.
A new method of efficient sum-frequency generation for broadband input fields is theoretically analyzed and experimentally demonstrated. The method involves using an arrangement with two or more nonlinear mixing crystals, with a time-delay line situated between the crystals, for one of the fundamental fields relative to the other. The delay line temporally shifts the fundamental fields, one relative to another, by a time longer than their coherence time. The improvement in efficiency for sum-frequency generation using this method is much higher than for difference-frequency generation.
Coherent frequency conversion of structured light, i.e. the ability to manipulate the carrier frequency of a wave front without distorting its spatial phase and intensity profile, provides the opportunity for numerous novel applications in photonic technology and fundamental science. In particular, frequency conversion of spatial modes carrying orbital angular momentum can be exploited in sub-wavelength resolution nano-optics and coherent imaging at a wavelength different from that used to illuminate an object. Moreover, coherent frequency conversion will be crucial for interfacing information stored in the high-dimensional spatial structure of single and entangled photons with various constituents of quantum networks. In this work, we demonstrate frequency conversion of structured light from the near infrared (803 nm) to the visible (527 nm). The conversion scheme is based on sum-frequency generation in a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal pumped with a 1540-nm Gaussian beam. We observe frequency-converted fields that exhibit a high degree of similarity with the input field and verify the coherence of the frequency-conversion process via mode projection measurements with a phase mask and a single-mode fiber. Our results demonstrate the suitability of exploiting the technique for applications in quantum information processing and coherent imaging.