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SPIE Conference on Quantum and Nonlinear Optics

Telecom-band photon-pair source based on high-index doped silica glass spiral waveguide

Changyue Wang, Liang Cui, Hao Feng, Xiaoying Li

Published Nov 26, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We generate quantum correlated photon-pairs at 1550 nm telecom band via pulse-pumped spontaneous four-wave mixing in high-index doped silica glass (HDSG) waveguides. The input and output ports of the 30-cm-long on-chip HDSG spiral waveguide are coupled to standard polarization maintaining fibers, which brings convenience to mode excitation and photon-pair collection. The flattened group velocity dispersion of the TE mode in the spiral waveguide is about 39 ps/km/nm at 1550 nm. When pumping around 1550 nm, the wavelength range of the generated signal (idler) photons can be more than 20 nm. Experimental results show that, in room temperature, the measured coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) is about 200 when the photon-pair production rate is about 2×10-5 pairs/pulse, and the main noise origin of the photon pair source is spontaneous Raman scattering. Our investigations show that the HDSG waveguide, which can be fabricated using CMOS compatible technologies, is a promising candidate for developing miniaturized quantum light sources.

DOI
10.1117/12.2689155

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We generate quantum correlated photon-pairs at 1550 nm telecom band via pulse-pumped spontaneous four-wave mixing in high-index doped silica glass (HDSG) waveguides. The input and output ports of the 30-cm-long on-chip HDSG spiral waveguide are coupled to standard polarization maintaining fibers, which brings convenience to mode excitation and photon-pair collection. The flattened group velocity dispersion of the TE mode in the spiral waveguide is about 39 ps/km/nm at 1550 nm. When pumping around 1550 nm, the wavelength range of the generated signal (idler) photons can be more than 20 nm. Experimental results show that, in room temperature, the measured coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) is about 200 when the photon-pair production rate is about 2×10-5 pairs/pulse, and the main noise origin of the photon pair source is spontaneous Raman scattering. Our investigations show that the HDSG waveguide, which can be fabricated using CMOS compatible technologies, is a promising candidate for developing miniaturized quantum light sources.
We have demonstrated a packaged Silicon photon pair source. The spiral silicon waveguide source is 500 nm x 220 nm x 2 cm long and was packaged with input/output optical fibers enabling turn-key generation of photon pairs by connecting the input optical fiber to a telecommunication grade laser. In this work, we experimentally characterized the generation of bi-photons by spontaneous four-wave mixing in the Silicon waveguide. The insertion loss of the chip, after packaging, was measured to be approximately 15 dB (3 dB/facet, waveguide propagation loss of less than 1.5 dB/cm, 6 dB from splitters sequence). We investigated the phase matching of the source by wavelength tuning the 1 nm bandpass filters and found that the generated bi-photons have a half-bandwidth of 10 nm about the pump wavelength. We investigate pulse pumping using an actively mode-locked fiber laser with a 500 MHz repetition rate, pulse duration of approximately 30 ps and peak pulse power of 400 mW. Excitation of the pulsed source with a power of 1.4 mW through the chip generated 300 kHz coincidence rates after passing the chip’s output through a series of spectral bandpass filters (-1.4 db in channel 1 and -2.4 dB in channel 2 of filter loss and approximately 85 % efficiency of the detectors: inferred on-chip pair generation rate of 58 MHz). We also investigate two sources with 6 mW of continuous-wave pump power to generate 1550 nm bi-photons, generating 6.0 kHz coincidence rates (inferred on-chip pair generation rate of 2.3 MHz).
Single photon sources are a key element for quantum computing, quantum key distribution (QKD) and quantum communications. In particular, producing single photons at telecommunications wavelengths is valuable for QKD protocols and would enable realizing the quantum internet. The preferred method for their generation has long been spontaneous down conversion in bulk crystals, which suffers from connection loss to fiber networks. In-fiber spontaneous four-wave mixing provides a viable alternative as a photon pair source due to being compatible with existing fiber networks. We present an all-fiber photon pair source based on degenerate four-wave mixing in a 400 m Highly-Nonlinear fiber, with signal and idler wavelengths generated at 1552.5 nm and 1557 nm respectively. The source consists of CW pump laser operating at 1554.75 nm, which is slightly detuned from the zero group velocity dispersion wavelength into the normal dispersion regime. After pair generation in the highly-nonlinear fiber, three arrayed waveguide gratings are employed to spatially separate signal and idler, and provides a 120 dB pump power reduction. Firstly the source is modelled and experimentally characterized in the well known classical regime of stimulated four-wave mixing. The effect of fiber cooling on spontaneous Raman scattering is modelled and characterized, and a 30% reduction in spontaneous emission is found when cooling the fiber to -77°C. In the low power regime the coincidence to accidental count ratio is simulated and measured. An increase in the coincidence to accidental count ratio is observed when cooling the fiber.
We demonstrate theoretically the direct (filter-free) generation of spectrally uncorrelated photon pairs, and consequently high-purity heralded single photons at telecommunication wavelengths, in SOI (silicon-on-insulator) nanowaveguides via spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM). The inherent strong waveguide dispersion in such high-index contrast structures is employed for discrete-band phase-matching in order to suppress the pair spectral correlations, and to produce photons in the fundamental spatial mode for easy in-out coupling to single-mode optical fibers. Additionally, by optimizing the source parameters like waveguide length, dispersion and pump bandwidth, the group-velocity of generated photons is also engineered to further eliminate spectral correlations. Extensive numerical mode simulations for various waveguide widths are used to design intrinsically pure photon sources via joint spectral amplitude (JSA) engineering. Purity$>9595% is shown to be achievable in a silica-clad SOI waveguide with a cross-section 220 × 600 nm95^{2}fortypicalvaluesoflengthandpumpbandwidth.Thewavelengthoftheseheraldedsinglephotonscanbetunedintherangeof1266–1363nm(for typical values of length and pump bandwidth. The wavelength of these heralded single photons can be tuned in the range of 1266–1363 nm (fortypicalvaluesoflengthandpumpbandwidth.Thewavelengthoftheseheraldedsinglephotonscanbetunedintherangeof1266–1363nm(\sim$O-band) by varying the pump wavelength. Considering the high accuracy provided by silicon nanofabrication techniques, the feasibility of generating single photons across the wavelength range 1333–1425 nm (E-band) and 1437–1510 nm (S-band) for slightly different waveguide widths (625 nm & 650 nm) is also demonstrated. These filter-free integrated photon sources could be important for large-scale linear optical quantum computation (LOQC) and long-distance fiber-optic quantum key distribution (QKD) networks.
We propose integrated photonic sources based on spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in dispersion engineered silicon nitride (SiN) nanowaveguides capable of generating spectrally-pure polarization-entangled photon-pairs bridging the visible-NIR and telecom bands. A simple silica-clad SiN waveguide design with height 640 nm and width in the range 860–960 nm can generate polarization-entangled photon pairs that simultaneously offers high heralded single photon purity of$>9999% and concurrence upto 0.99, with signal and idler lying in the range99\sim736–740nmand736–740 nm and736–740nmand\sim1460–1560nm,respectively,employingapulsedpump(BW1460–1560 nm, respectively, employing a pulsed pump (BW1460–1560nm,respectively,employingapulsedpump(BW\gtrsim0.25–3THz)ofwavelengthnear0.25–3 THz) of wavelength near0.25–3THz)ofwavelengthnear\sim1−1-1−\mum.Slightlydifferentwaveguideheightof620nmandcorrespondingwaveguidewidthsintherange1040–1180nm,offeringthesamepurityandconcurrencestandards,canalsoaddressvariousquantummemoriesdemonstratedatthevisible−NIRwavelengthsofm. Slightly different waveguide height of 620 nm and corresponding waveguide widths in the range 1040–1180 nm, offering the same purity and concurrence standards, can also address various quantum memories demonstrated at the visible-NIR wavelengths ofm.Slightlydifferentwaveguideheightof620nmandcorrespondingwaveguidewidthsintherange1040–1180nm,offeringthesamepurityandconcurrencestandards,canalsoaddressvariousquantummemoriesdemonstratedatthevisible−NIRwavelengthsof\sim$775–800 nm with a telecom band interface. Such CMOS-compatible on-chip sources of spectrally-pure polarization-entangled photon pairs can potentially be employed in a scalable manner for various optical quantum technologies.