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Nonlinear Frequency Generation and Conversion: Materials and Devices

Efficient hybridized parametric amplification enabled by quasiphase matching with quasiperiodic gratings

Amir F. Amhaz, Jeffrey Moses

Published Mar 21, 2025• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Hybridized parametric amplification (HPA), a recent method to achieve high-efficiency parametric amplification by suppressing back-conversion with idler second harmonic generation, has been demonstrated so far only by birefringent phase matching. In this work, we demonstrate HPA by quasi-phase matching (QPM) in quasiperiodic-poled lithium niobate. QPM greatly expands the tuning range of HPA, while avoiding the limitations imposed by spatial walkoff of noncollinear beams. Since HPA has two concurrent processes, QPM requires a quasiperiodic grating with longitudinal spatial frequency peaks at both the parametric amplification and idler second harmonic generation phase mismatches. We investigate several grating designs for high-efficiency HPA in the near-infrared range. Quantum efficiencies of 70-80% are possible for devices pumped at 1030 nm, for both femtosecond and picosecond duration regimes. Pulse energies over 1 mJ can be accommodated using a chirped pump. However, devices must be designed carefully around the propagation effects of temporal walk-off and self-phase modulation.

DOI
10.1117/12.3046821

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Hybridized parametric amplification (HPA), a recent method to achieve high-efficiency parametric amplification by suppressing back-conversion with idler second harmonic generation, has been demonstrated so far only by birefringent phase matching. In this work, we demonstrate HPA by quasi-phase matching (QPM) in quasiperiodic-poled lithium niobate. QPM greatly expands the tuning range of HPA, while avoiding the limitations imposed by spatial walkoff of noncollinear beams. Since HPA has two concurrent processes, QPM requires a quasiperiodic grating with longitudinal spatial frequency peaks at both the parametric amplification and idler second harmonic generation phase mismatches. We investigate several grating designs for high-efficiency HPA in the near-infrared range. Quantum efficiencies of 70-80% are possible for devices pumped at 1030 nm, for both femtosecond and picosecond duration regimes. Pulse energies over 1 mJ can be accommodated using a chirped pump. However, devices must be designed carefully around the propagation effects of temporal walk-off and self-phase modulation.
Three-wave nonlinear interactions in chirped quasi-phase-matched (QPM) gratings are shown to exhibit conversion efficiency approaching 100% with increasing input pump and signal intensities, evading backconversion, as long as the idler vanishes at the input and the QPM grating is sufficiently chirped. The signal phase is described in terms of Kerr-like self- and cross-phase modulations, in the cascade χ((3)) approximation. Achieving high gain and efficiency simultaneously can lead to a large nonlinear phase, and the resulting trade-off is discussed.
Although noiseless optical amplification has been demonstrated in bulk KTP crystals, and is well understood, there have been no observations of noiseless optical amplification in bulk quasi-phase-matched (QPM) systems. That such an amplifier is possible was predicted recently and indeed squeezing has already been observed in QPM waveguides (using KTP and LiNbO3). QPM materials are attractive for use in quantum-optical devices because they give access to certain (large) components of the nonlinear susceptibility tensor that cannot be used in conventional birefringent phase-matching schemes. They also extend the range of materials accessible for use in parametric amplifiers to include some low-birefringence crystals exhibiting large nonlinearities. Even with the technological advantages offered by certain QPM crystals, efforts to find practical applications for optical parametric amplifiers are hampered by the need for enormous pump-field strengths. The obvious solution to the problem of the pump-field requirement is to confine the incident energy to a narrow interaction region thereby increasing the energy density. However, this approach can only be realised at the expense of sacrificing the homogeneity of the parametric interaction between pump and signal waves. This in turn causes vacuum field fluctuations from parasitic modes to be mixed into the signal mode thereby degrading the signal to noise ratio and negating the advantage of using an optical parametric amplifier. In the experiments presented here, optical signals have been amplified with up to 9dB of gain, yet with a noise figure (NF) of only 1.09, as compared to the minimum possible NF of a classical amplifier with the same gain which would equal 1.86. Furthermore, the interaction is achieved with tightly focused incident fields in a sample of bulk QPM lithium niobate. The entire interaction region is only 200µm thick and 2.8mm long. This performance was achieved with the aid of a theoretical model m which the effect of wavefront curvature and mode distortion are treated within a quantised mode framework using a spatial mode basis. Such a simulation permits the fundamental origin of the excess quantum noise to be easily traced to zero-point fluctuations of high-order spatial modes which couple to the signal mode via the parametric interaction. Furthermore the simulation enabled an experimental geometry to be selected in which an optimal compromise is made between wavefront matching bump beam smaller than signal) and pump-homogeneity (pump larger than signal), so that the overall noise figure remains well into the quantum-performance region.
A configuration for wavelength conversion and optical amplification by parametric interaction using a nonlinear optical device is proposed. It enables pump generation through second harmonic generation (SHG), difference frequency generation (DFG), and optical parametric amplification (OPA) using a multiple-quasi-phase-matched (M-QPM) LiNbO3 waveguide in a bidirectional manner. Wavelength conversion for the 1.4–1.6 µm band is experimentally demonstrated. In addition, it is demonstrated that the parametric gain band can be changed using various detunings between the pump and QPM wavelengths used for the DFG/OPA process. The proposed method would be useful for enabling high-capacity optical transmission outside the 1550-nm band.
Optical parametric amplification (OPA) in the S-band with a compact configuration was demonstrated using a reflective multiple quasi-phase-matched (M-QPM) LiNbO 3 waveguide module. The reflective-module-assembled LiNbO 3 waveguide has two QPM peaks and a built-in mirror that reflects only the second harmonic. These features make it possible to perform second harmonic pump generation and OPA under different phase-matching conditions using a single device. The idler light generated in the module retains the phase information from the signal light and is used to evaluate signal quality.
An incomplete period of the last quasi-phase-matching (QPM) segment in a periodically poled nonlinear crystal represents a key problem in implementing a nonlinear wavelength-conversion device with round-trip or oscillating waves of interaction. Such a segment at the crystal end implies broken QPM periodicity for the reflected waves of interaction. We demonstrate numerically that with a grating structure at the crystal end for the reflecting signal the wavelength-dependent phase shift at Bragg reflection can compensate for the phase mismatch of the reflected signal, idler, and pump of an optical parametric process. Therefore, by slightly shifting the signal wavelength we can maintain the phase-matching condition with any length of the last QPM segment. It is shown that with a grating structure the conversion efficiency of the round-trip optical parametric process can always be optimized.
High-gain optical parametric amplification is an important nonlinear process used both as a source of coherent infrared light and as a source of nonclassical light. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate an approach to optical parametric amplification that enables extremely large parametric gains with low energy requirements. In conventional nonlinear media driven by femtosecond pulses, multiple dispersion orders limit the effective interaction length available for parametric amplification. Here, we use the dispersion engineering available in periodically poled thin-film lithium niobate nanowaveguides to eliminate several dispersion orders at once. The result is a quasi-static process; the large peak intensity associated with a short pump pulse can provide gain to signal photons without undergoing pulse distortion or temporal walk-off. We characterize the parametric gain available in these waveguides using optical parametric generation, where vacuum fluctuations are amplified to macroscopic intensities. In the unsaturated regime, we observe parametric gains as large as 71 dB (118 dB/cm) spanning 1700–2700 nm with pump energies of only 4 pJ. When driven with pulse energies > 10 p J , we observe saturated parametric gains as large as 88 dB ( > 146 d B / c m ). The devices shown here achieve saturated optical parametric generation with orders of magnitude less pulse energy than previous techniques.