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Communications Physics

An integrated 3C-silicon carbide-on-insulator photonic platform for nonlinear and quantum light sources

Jiayang Li, Qianni Zhang, Jiantao Wang, Andrew W. O. Poon

Published Apr 11, 2024• 23 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Silicon carbide (SiC) polytypes are emerging for integrated nonlinear and quantum photonics due to their wide-bandgap energies, second-order optic nonlinearity and process compatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technologies. Among polytypes, 3C-SiC is the only one epitaxially grown on wafer-scale silicon substrates. However, on-chip nonlinear and quantum light sources leveraging the second-order nonlinearity of 3C-SiC have not been reported to our knowledge. Here, we design and fabricate an elliptical microring on 3C-SiC. We demonstrate a nonlinear light source with a second-harmonic generation efficiency of $$17.4\pm 0.2 \% {W}^{-1}$$ 17.4 ± 0.2 % W − 1 and difference-frequency generation with a signal-idler bandwidth of 97 nm. We demonstrate a spontaneous parametric down-conversion source with a photon-pair generation rate of 4.8 MHz and a coincidence-to-accidental ratio of $$3361\pm 84$$ 3361 ± 84 . We measure a low heralded single-photon second-order coherence $${g}_{H}^{\left(2\right)}=0.0007$$ g H 2 = 0.0007 . We observe time-bin entanglement with a visibility of $$86.0\pm 2.4 \%$$ 86.0 ± 2.4 % using this source. Our work paves a way toward SiC-based on-chip nonlinear and quantum photonic circuits.

DOI
10.1038/s42005-024-01620-x

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Abstract Silicon carbide (SiC) polytypes are emerging for integrated nonlinear and quantum photonics due to their wide-bandgap energies, second-order optic nonlinearity and process compatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technologies. Among polytypes, 3C-SiC is the only one epitaxially grown on wafer-scale silicon substrates. However, on-chip nonlinear and quantum light sources leveraging the second-order nonlinearity of 3C-SiC have not been reported to our knowledge. Here, we design and fabricate an elliptical microring on 3C-SiC. We demonstrate a nonlinear light source with a second-harmonic generation efficiency of 17.4±0.2%W−117.4\pm 0.2 \% {W}^{-1}17.4±0.2%W−1 17.4 ± 0.2 % W − 1 and difference-frequency generation with a signal-idler bandwidth of 97 nm. We demonstrate a spontaneous parametric down-conversion source with a photon-pair generation rate of 4.8 MHz and a coincidence-to-accidental ratio of 3361±843361\pm 843361±84 3361 ± 84 . We measure a low heralded single-photon second-order coherence gH(2)=0.0007{g}_{H}^{\left(2\right)}=0.0007gH(2)​=0.0007 g H 2 = 0.0007 . We observe time-bin entanglement with a visibility of 86.0±2.4%86.0\pm 2.4 \%86.0±2.4% 86.0 ± 2.4 % using this source. Our work paves a way toward SiC-based on-chip nonlinear and quantum photonic circuits.
3C-silicon carbide-on-insulator (3C-SiCOI) is an emerging photonic platform for integrated quantum photonics due to its moderate second- and third-order optical nonlinearities, wide bandgap energy, and compatibility with silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor technologies. In this work, we report our progress in photon-pair generation and quantum state manipulation on the 3C-SiCOI platform. We demonstrate the generation of photon pairs through the spontaneous parametric down-conversion process using modal phase-matching in an elliptical microring resonator on this platform. We will present the design principle and recent progress of our experimental work.
4H silicon carbide, as a silicon-based nonlinear optical material platform, exhibits a large bandgap energy, a wide transparent window and moderate second- and third-order optical nonlinearities. The availability of chip-based visible-wavelength nonlinear and quantum light sources pave the way for quantum communications as well as bio-, atomic-, and molecular-related nonlinear and quantum photonic devices and applications on a chip. Microring resonators on the 4H-SiC- on-insulator platform are ideal for efficiently generating nonlinear and quantum light sources integrated with large-scale photonic integrated circuits. In this work, we report our progress in demonstrating such quantum light sources in the visible/near-infrared wavelengths through spontaneous parametric down-conversion in 4H-SiCOI microring resonators utilizing the type-II phase matching.
Abstract Entanglement plays a vital role in quantum information processing. Owing to its unique material properties, silicon carbide recently emerged as a promising candidate for the scalable implementation of advanced quantum information processing capabilities. To date, however, only entanglement of nuclear spins has been reported in silicon carbide, while an entangled photon source, whether it is based on bulk or chip-scale technologies, remains elusive. Here, we report the demonstration of an entangled photon source in an integrated silicon carbide platform for the first time. Specifically, strongly correlated photon pairs are efficiently generated at the telecom C-band wavelength through implementing spontaneous four-wave mixing in a compact microring resonator in the 4H-silicon-carbide-on-insulator platform. The maximum coincidence-to-accidental ratio exceeds 600 at a pump power of 0.17 mW, corresponding to a pair generation rate of 9×10 3 pairs/s. Energy-time entanglement is created and verified for such signal-idler photon pairs, with the two-photon interference fringes exhibiting a visibility larger than 99%. The heralded single-photon properties are also measured, with the heralded g (2) (0)on the order of 10 -3 , demonstrating the SiC platform as a prospective fully integrated, CMOS-compatible single-photon source for quantum applications.
Abstract Entanglement plays a vital role in quantum information processing. Owing to its unique material properties, silicon carbide recently emerged as a promising candidate for the scalable implementation of advanced quantum information processing capabilities. To date, however, only entanglement of nuclear spins has been reported in silicon carbide, while an entangled photon source, whether it is based on bulk or chip-scale technologies, has remained elusive. Here, we report the demonstration of an entangled photon source in an integrated silicon carbide platform for the first time. Specifically, strongly correlated photon pairs are efficiently generated at the telecom C-band wavelength through implementing spontaneous four-wave mixing in a compact microring resonator in the 4H-silicon-carbide-on-insulator platform. The maximum coincidence-to-accidental ratio exceeds 600 at a pump power of 0.17 mW, corresponding to a pair generation rate of (9 ± 1) × 10 3 pairs/s. Energy-time entanglement is created and verified for such signal-idler photon pairs, with the two-photon interference fringes exhibiting a visibility larger than 99%. The heralded single-photon properties are also measured, with the heralded g (2) (0) on the order of 10 −3 , demonstrating the SiC platform as a prospective fully integrated, complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible single-photon source for quantum applications.
Integrated time-bin-entangled photon-pair source with cavity-enhanced nonlinear optical processes is essential for quantum information technologies. However, microcavities with a high quality factor inherently introduce a trade-off between generation efficiency and photon bandwidth, which hinders the development of high-speed quantum networks with an integrated source. Here, we address this challenge by optimizing the nonlinearity property of the material and the geometry of the integrated microring resonator with a 4H-silicon carbide platform. Operating at a loaded quality factor of 1.9 ×\times× 10^5 - spectral bandwidth of 1.0 GHz and pumped with 300-ps double pulses separated by 1.25 ns at a repetition rate of 160 MHz, the device achieves a time-bin-entangled photon-pair generation rate of 1.35 ×\times× 10^7 s^-1 mW^-2. A raw visibility of 95.55 ±\pm± 0.18% is measured, showing a violation of Bell's inequality by more than 138 standard deviations, and a fidelity of 94.37 ±\pm± 0.22% is obtained by quantum state tomography. These results provide a scalable pathway to an efficient and broadband time-bin entangled quantum light source, overcoming intrinsic limitations of cavity-based designs and advancing integrated platforms for future quantum communication networks.