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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

Tailoring Photon Pair Emission Characteristics Via Bi-Chromatic Excitation of an Integrated Nonlinear Cavity

Alí M. Angulo M., Jan Heine, J.S.S. Duran Gomez, Hatam Mahmudlu, Raktim Haldar, Charalambos Klitis, Marc Sorel, Michael Kues

Published Jun 26, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The photon pair generation (PPG) via spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in an optically excited third-order nonlinear cavity forms large-scale high-dimensional quantum states, called quantum frequency combs (QFC). The scalable practical generation and control of these photonic states via integrated devices enable quantum information processing for applications in secured communications and quantum computing [1]. Modifying the excitation field properties in different degrees of freedom, e.g., polarization [2], frequency or spatial modes [3], allows controlling the structure of the generated quantum state by favoring different types of SFWM processes. In this work, by using two excitation fields and varying their intensity,$P_{1}$and$P_{2}$, respectively, we demonstrate the occurrence of two different SFWM processes (degenerately and non-degenerately excited SFWM) and a control of the pair generation rate:$\mu(r,P)=\mu_{1}(P_{1}(r,P))+\mu_{2}(P_{2}(r,P))+\mu_{ND}(r,P)$, where P is the total excitation power,$r=P_{1}/P$is the power ratio,$\mu_{1},\mu_{2}$describe the degenerate process and$\mu_{ND}$the non-degenerate process.

DOI
10.1109/cleo/europe-eqec57999.2023.10232334

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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)•Jun 1, 2019•0 citations
The photon pair generation (PPG) via spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in an optically excited third-order nonlinear cavity forms large-scale high-dimensional quantum states, called quantum frequency combs (QFC). The scalable practical generation and control of these photonic states via integrated devices enable quantum information processing for applications in secured communications and quantum computing [1]. Modifying the excitation field properties in different degrees of freedom, e.g., polarization [2], frequency or spatial modes [3], allows controlling the structure of the generated quantum state by favoring different types of SFWM processes. In this work, by using two excitation fields and varying their intensity,P1P_{1}P1​andP2P_{2}P2​, respectively, we demonstrate the occurrence of two different SFWM processes (degenerately and non-degenerately excited SFWM) and a control of the pair generation rate:μ(r,P)=μ1(P1(r,P))+μ2(P2(r,P))+μND(r,P)\mu(r,P)=\mu_{1}(P_{1}(r,P))+\mu_{2}(P_{2}(r,P))+\mu_{ND}(r,P)μ(r,P)=μ1​(P1​(r,P))+μ2​(P2​(r,P))+μND​(r,P), where P is the total excitation power,r=P1/Pr=P_{1}/Pr=P1​/Pis the power ratio,μ1,μ2\mu_{1},\mu_{2}μ1​,μ2​describe the degenerate process andμND\mu_{ND}μND​the non-degenerate process.
We reveal the generation of a broadband (> 1.9 THz) bi-photon quantum frequency comb (QFC) in a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) Fabry–Pérot micro-cavity and the control of its spectral correlation properties. Correlated photon pairs are generated through three spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) processes by using a co-polarized bi-chromatic coherent input with power P 1 and P 2 on adjacent resonances of the nonlinear cavity. Adjusting the spectral power ratio r = P 1 /( P 1 + P 2 ) allows control over the influence of each process leading to an enhancement of the overall photon pair generation rate (PGR) μ ( r ) by a maximal factor of μ ( r = 0.5)/ μ ( r = 0) ≈ 1.5, compared to the overall PGR provided by a single-pump configuration with the same power budget. We demonstrate that the efficiency a ND of the non-degenerate excitation SFWM process (NDP) doubles the efficiency a 1 ≈ a 2 of the degenerate excitation SFWM processes (DP), showing a good agreement with the provided model.
Cavity-assisted spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) and spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in nonlinear optical materials are practical and versatile methods to generate narrowband time-energy entangled photon pairs. Time-energy entangled photons with tailored spectro-temporal properties are particularly useful for efficient quantum optical interfaces. In this work we study the generation of photon pairs in cavity-assisted SPDC and SFWM for the general case of off-resonant conversion, namely, when the frequencies of the generated photons do not match the cavity resonances. Such a frequency mismatch in particular depends on temperature and requires an additional control in the experiment. First, we propose a generic model, for description of cavity-assisted SPDC and SFWM. We show that in both processes the mismatch reduces the generation rate of photons, distorts the spectrum and the auto-correlation function of the generated fields, as well as affects the photon generation dynamics. Second, we verify the results experimentally using parametric generation of photon pairs in a nonlinear whispering gallery mode resonator (WGMR) as an experimental platform with controlled frequency mismatch. Our work reveals the role of the frequency mismatch in the photon generation process and shows a way to control it. Obtained results constitute one more step in the direction of full control over the spectro-temporal properties of entangled photon pairs and the heralded generation of single-photon pulses with a tailored temporal mode.
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.
In this Letter, telecom-band degenerate-frequency photon pairs are generated in a specific mode of a silicon microring cavity by the nondegenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) process, under two continuous-wave pumps at resonance wavelength of two different cavity modes. The ratio of coincidence to accidental coincidence is up to 100 under a time bin width of 5 ns, showing their characteristics of quantum correlation. Their quantum interference in balanced and unbalanced Mach-Zehnder interferometers is investigated theoretically and experimentally, and the results show potential in quantum metrology and quantum information.
The purpose of this tutorial paper is to present a broad overview of photon-pair generation through the spontaneous four wave mixing (SFWM) process in optical fibers. Progress in optical fiber technology means that today we have at our disposal a wide variety of types of fiber, which, together with the fact that SFWM uses two pump fields, implies a truly remarkable versatility in the resulting possible photon-pair properties. We discuss how the interplay of frequency, transverse mode, and polarization degrees of freedom—the first linked to the latter two through fiber dispersion—leads to interesting entanglement properties both in individual degrees of freedom and also permitting hybrid and hyper entanglement in combinations of degrees of freedom. This tutorial covers methods for photon-pair factorability, frequency tunability, and SFWM bandwidth control, the effect of frequency non-degenerate and counterpropagating pumps, as well as methods for characterizing photon pairs generated in optical fibers.
Quantum correlations, where two or more parties exhibit strong correlations in a particular degree of freedom are important resources for fundamental science [1], such as the exploration of non-locality and entanglement, as well as non-classical technologies including quantum computation, quantum key distribution and quantum metrology. One typical way to generate correlated photon pairs is to use the spontaneous four-wave mixing process, with demonstrations on various platforms [2]. So far, single-photon stimulated four-wave mixing (FWM) has been demonstrated in optical fibers [3]. Here we show induced correlation by single photon seeded FWM through exploiting the orthogonal polarization modes in an integrated ring resonator [4]. We allow two different four-wave mixing processes to occur simultaneously with the same signal frequency mode but different idler frequency modes (see Fig.1(a)). The single-photon induced FWM process, named here seeded FWM, was created through the link of type-0 SFWM and type-2 SFWM. In the type-0 process, two excitation photons from the same field are converted into two new photons, signal and idler, with the same polarization as the pump field. While in the type-2 FWM, two annihilated photons, each one from a different polarized pump field, namely TE and TM, generate an orthogonal-polarized photon pair. More importantly, spatial and temporal overlapping of two processes and their sharing of one common resonance lead to correlation between the other two signal photons, one from each process. For example, an idler photon created in type-0 FWM seeds the type-2 FWM process or vice versa, i.e. the TM idler photon in Fig. 1, induces correlation between the signal TM and TE photons. This is proven by the observation of a clear coincidence peak for both signal photons in Fig.1(b). Furthermore, we confirmed our observation via power-dependent correlation measurements (see Fig.1 (c)). We summarized the true coincidence count (C) and its coincidence to accidental ratio (CAR) when only the TE pump power is increased while maintaining the TM mode pump power (black squares), and both pump powers are increased with a constant ratio (blue dots). We found that the seeded FWM scales with the square of both pump powers (C ∝ PjePtm) and that the CAR reach its maxima of 1.5 at the available pump power, indicating thermal statistics. Our findings are relevant to the fundamental understanding of spontaneous parametric effects as well as single-photon induced processes and single photon cloning.