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Optics Express

Quantum interference of concurrent nonlinear processes in a single silicon waveguide

Pingyu Zhu, Jiacheng Liu, Gongyu Xia, Chang Ming Zhao, Yuxing Du, Weihong Luo, Yan Wang, Qilin Zheng, Miaomiao Yu, Kaikai Zhang, Ping Xu

Published Aug 23, 2024• 2 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Optical nonlinearity provides a key resource for quantum information processing and the interference of quanta lies at the heart of quantum physics as well. As an interesting combination, the nonlinear interference can extend the scalability and flexibility of quantum manipulations as well as what we believe to be novel applications. In this manuscript, we propose and experimentally demonstrate what we believe to be a new nonlinear interferometer on a silicon chip between a degenerate and a non-degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing process in the same waveguide. We observed the interference in the pairs generation rate and obtained broadband interference visibility up to 96%. Furthermore, we also provide a feasible scheme for observing four-photon nonlinear interference in a single waveguide. This work provides a novel method for realizing and controlling optical nonlinear interference, and enriches the toolbox of quantum state preparation and quantum manipulation by nonlinear processes.

DOI
10.1364/oe.533110

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Optical nonlinearity provides a key resource for quantum information processing and the interference of quanta lies at the heart of quantum physics as well. As an interesting combination, the nonlinear interference can extend the scalability and flexibility of quantum manipulations as well as what we believe to be novel applications. In this manuscript, we propose and experimentally demonstrate what we believe to be a new nonlinear interferometer on a silicon chip between a degenerate and a non-degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing process in the same waveguide. We observed the interference in the pairs generation rate and obtained broadband interference visibility up to 96%. Furthermore, we also provide a feasible scheme for observing four-photon nonlinear interference in a single waveguide. This work provides a novel method for realizing and controlling optical nonlinear interference, and enriches the toolbox of quantum state preparation and quantum manipulation by nonlinear processes.
Photonic integrated circuits represent a promising platform for applying quantum information science to areas such as quantum computation, quantum communication, and quantum metrology. While the linear optical approach has greatly contributed to this field, it is often possible to improve the functionality and scalability by making use of nonlinear processes. One interesting phenomenon is the interference between two nonlinear optical processes, where the interference occurs by removing the information as to which of two processes have occurred. In this Letter, we demonstrate a nonlinear interferometer in the pair-photon generation regime by using spontaneous four-wave mixing in an integrated silicon photonic chip. We observe a nonlinear interference in the production rate of photon pairs generated from two different four-wave mixing waveguides. We obtain an interference visibility of 96.8%. This work shows the possibility of integrating and controlling nonlinear-optical-interference components for silicon quantum photonics.
Silicon photonic integrated circuits are a promising platform for realizing large-scale quantum photonic devices. While the linear optical approach has greatly contributed to this field, it is often possible to improve the functionality and scalability by making use of non-linear processes. One interesting process is the interference between two nonlinear optical processes, where the interference occurs by removing the information as to which of two processes have occurred. Recently, we have implemented a non-linear interferometer in the pair-photon generation regime by using spontaneous four-wave mixing in an integrated silicon photonic chip. In this paper, we have improved the performance of our non-linear interference device and evaluated it in detail. This work shows the possibility of integrating and controlling nonlinear-optical interference components for silicon quantum photonics.
Quantum interference between identical photons lies at the heart of our plan to construct a silicon photonic quantum computer. Several ground-breaking experiments have demonstrated the on-chip interference between photons generated in spiral [1] and ring resonator [2] sources. However, these two-photon experiments have relied on detecting the simultaneous arrival of a pair of photons from either source. In order that such experiments can be scaled-up, we require the multiplexing of probabilistic photon pair sources into an on-demand single photon source [3]. A first step towards this is to demonstrate heralded single photons from different sources will retain the purity and indistinguishability required to interfere with high visibility [4]. In our work we examine photon pair production by spontaneous four-wave mixing in a silicon waveguide source and determine the factors that limit the heralded two-photon interference visibility. We present a novel approach to modelling this generation process using the joint- temporal amplitude and compare our results with experimental data. [1] On-chip quantum interference between silicon photon-pair sources, Nature Photonics 8, 104, (2014). [2] Qubit entanglement between ring-resonator photon-pair sources on a silicon chip, Nature Communications 6, 7948, (2015). [3] Active temporal and spatial multiplexing of photons, Optica 3, 127, (2016) [4] Indistinguishable photon pair generation using two independent silicon wire waveguides, New Journal of Physics 13, 065005, (2011).
Quantum mechanically, multiple particles can jointly be in a coherent superposition of two or more different states at the same time. This property is called quantum entanglement, and gives rise to characteristic nonlocal interference and stays at the heart of quantum information process. Here, rather than interference of different intrinsic properties of particles, we experimentally demonstrated coherent superposition of two different birthplaces of a four-photon state. The quantum state is created in four probabilistic photon-pair sources, two combinations of which can create photon quadruplets. Coherent elimination and revival of distributed 4-photons can be fully controlled by tuning a phase. The stringent coherence requirements are met by using a silicon-based integrated photonic chip that contains four spiral waveguides for producing photon pairs via spontaneous four-wave mixing. The experiment gives rise to peculiar nonlocal phenomena without any obvious involvement of entanglement. Besides several potential applications that exploit the new on-chip technology, it opens up the possibility for fundamental studies on nonlocality with spatially separated locations.
A silicon quantum photonic circuit was proposed and realized for the generation and the dynamic manipulation of telecom-band frequency-degenerate polarization entangled Bell states. Frequency degenerate biphoton states were generated in four silicon waveguides by spontaneous four wave mixing. They were transformed to polarization entangled Bell states through on-chip quantum interference and quantum superposition, and then coupled to optical fibers. The property of polarization entanglement in generated photon pairs was demonstrated by two-photon interference under two non-orthogonal polarization bases. The output state could be dynamically switched between two Bell states, which was demonstrated by the simplified Bell state measurement. The experiment results indicated that the manipulation speed supported a modulation rate of several tens kHz, showing its potential on applications of quantum communication and quantum information processing requiring Bell state encoding and dynamic control.
We report two-photon interferences on a silica-on-silicon chip of Mach-Zehnder interferometer using telecommunication-band correlated photon pairs. The photon pairs were generated by spontaneous four-waving mixing process in a dispersion-shifted fiber. The integrated chip, which was fabricated by standard silica-on-silicon planar lightwave circuit technology, contained a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with a thermo-optic phase shifter. The insertion loss of the interferometer was less than 1 dB. We demonstrated two-photon interferences with both degenerate- and non-degenerate-frequency photon pairs on the Mach-Zehnder interferometer chip. A high fringe visibility was achieved in the interference with nondegenerate-frequency photons. Properties of quantum interference were demonstrated in the interference with degenerate-frequency photon pairs, which is an important way to manipulate the quantum state. These results show great potential of silica-on-silicon photonic chips in applications for the fiber-chip scheme in quantum networks.