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Applied Optics

Integrated photon pairs source based on counter-propagating spontaneous four wave mixing in a silicon nitride microring resonator

G. J. Rodríguez Becerra, J. S. S. Durán Gómez, P. M. C. Tavares Ramírez, Roberto Ramírez-Alarcón, Mauricio Gómez-Robles, Rafael Salas‐Montiel

Published Sep 3, 2024• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We report the design of an innovative visible-telecom photon pair source based on counter-propagating spontaneous four wave mixing (CP-SFWM) in a silicon nitride microring resonator. Unlike previous designs, the proposed integrated source achieves automatic phase matching, eliminating the need for dispersion engineering. By employing two lasers at wavelengths of 800 nm and 1550 nm as pumps on opposite ends of the bus waveguides, the resonator generates signal and idler photons at the same wavelengths as the pumps, but propagating in opposite directions. The photon pairs are produced in high-quality factor resonant modes, exhibiting a purity of 1, a brightness of 118.70pairs⋅s−1⋅mW−2, and bandwidths of 157.9 MHz and 79.7 MHz for signal and idler photons, respectively. Our proposal outperforms previous CP-SFWM designs in terms of spectral properties of the photon pairs, emission rate, and scalability, making it an interesting alternative for the implementation of integrated photon pair sources for photonic networks.

DOI
10.1364/ao.532359

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•Nov 21, 2024•0 citations
We report the design of an innovative visible-telecom photon pair source based on counter-propagating spontaneous four wave mixing (CP-SFWM) in a silicon nitride microring resonator. Unlike previous designs, the proposed integrated source achieves automatic phase matching, eliminating the need for dispersion engineering. By employing two lasers at wavelengths of 800 nm and 1550 nm as pumps on opposite ends of the bus waveguides, the resonator generates signal and idler photons at the same wavelengths as the pumps, but propagating in opposite directions. The photon pairs are produced in high-quality factor resonant modes, exhibiting a purity of 1, a brightness of 118.70pairs⋅s−1⋅mW−2, and bandwidths of 157.9 MHz and 79.7 MHz for signal and idler photons, respectively. Our proposal outperforms previous CP-SFWM designs in terms of spectral properties of the photon pairs, emission rate, and scalability, making it an interesting alternative for the implementation of integrated photon pair sources for photonic networks.
We report the design of an integrated visible-telecom photon pair source based on Counter Propagating Spontaneous Four Wave Mixing (CP-SFWM) in a Silicon Nitride (Si3N4) chip with no need of dispersion profile engineering. Two lasers are pumped at 800 nm and 1550 nm at both ends of the optical fiber, generating signal and idler photons at the same wavelengths but with opposite propagation directions, relative to their corresponding pumps. Moreover, these photons exhibit a spectral bandwidth on the order of MHz, achieved by using a high Q factor ring resonator.
We report the design of an integrated photon pair source based on spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM), implemented in an integrated micro-ring resonator in the silicon nitride platform (Si 3 N 4 ). The signal photon is generated with emission at 606 nm and bandwidth of 3.98 MHz, matching the spectral properties of praseodymium ions (Pr), while the idler photon is generated at 1430.5 nm matching the wavelength of a CWDM channel in the E-band. This novel, to the best of our knowledge, device is designed to interact with a quantum memory based on a Y 2 SiO 5 crystal doped with Pr 3+ ions, in which we used cavity-enhanced SFWM along with dispersion engineering to reach the required wavelength and the few megahertz signal photon spectral bandwidth.
We present the design of an on-chip integrated photon pair source based on Spontaneous Four Wave Mixing (SFWM), implemented on a ring resonator in the 4H Silicon Carbide On Insulator (4H-SiCOI) platform, compatible with a solid state quantum memory in the telecommunications band. Through careful engineering of the waveguide dispersion and micro-ring resonator dimensions, we found solutions where the signal photons are emitted at 1536.48 nm with a bandwidth of ∼150\sim 150∼150 MHz, enabling the interaction with the hyperfine structure of Er 3+^{3+}3+ ions. Simultaneously, the idler photons are generated at 1563.86 nm, matching the central wavelength of a specific channel in a commercial dense wavelength division multiplexing system. The proposed device fulfill all the spectral requirements in a simple ring-bus coupled waveguide configuration with design parameters within the range of reported values for similar resonators, making feasible its manufacturing with current fabrication capabilities.
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.
Photonic chips with silicon nitride (Si3N4\mathrm{Si_3N_4}Si3​N4​) microring resonators are well established as heralded single-photon sources, but their operation as frequency-degenerate twin-photon sources has not previously been demonstrated. Here, we realise a twin-photon source at telecommunication wavelengths in a Si3N4\mathrm{Si_3N_4}Si3​N4​ ring microresonator via an inverse four-wave mixing (FWM) process, in which two photons from spectrally distinct pumps are converted into a pair of identical twin photons. The measurements show a maximum coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) of 5.4±0.65.4\pm0.65.4±0.6. In addition, the microresonator functions as a heralded single-photon source through pump-degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM), exhibiting a spectral purity of P=0.67±0.05P=0.67\pm0.05P=0.67±0.05 and a heralded anti-bunching of gh(2)(0)=0.0042±0.0015g^{(2)}_h(0)=0.0042\pm0.0015gh(2)​(0)=0.0042±0.0015. Together, these results demonstrate both photon-generation schemes on a single integrated Si3N4\mathrm{Si_3N_4}Si3​N4​ platform, highlighting its potential for scalable, tailored quantum light generation.
The intrinsic third-order nonlinearity in silicon has proven it to be quite useful in the field of quantum optics. Silicon is suitable for producing time-correlated photon pairs that are sources of heralded single-photon states for quantum integrated circuits. A quantum signal source in the form of single photons is an inherent requirement for the principles of quantum key distribution technology for secure communications. Here, we present numerical simulations of a silicon ring with a 6 μ m radius side-coupled with a bus waveguide as the source for the generation of single photons. The photon pairs are generated by exploring the process of degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM). The free spectral range (FSR) of the ring is quite large, simplifying the extraction of the signal/idler pairs. The phase-matching condition is considered by studying relevant parameters like the dispersion and nonlinearity. We optimize the ring for a high quality factor by varying the gap between the bus and the ring waveguide. This is the smallest ring studied for photon pair generation with a quality factor in the order of 10 5 . The width of the waveguides is chosen such that the phase-matching condition is satisfied, allowing for the propagation of fundamental modes only. The bus waveguide is pumped at one of the ring resonances with the minimum dispersion (1543.5 nm in our case) to satisfy the principle of energy conservation. The photon pair generation rate achieved is comparable to the state of the art. The photon pair sources exploiting nonlinear frequency conversion/generation processes is a promising alternative to atom-like single-photon emitters in the field of integrated photonics. Such miniaturized structures will benefit future on-chip architectures where multiple single-photon source devices are required on the same chip.