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Nanophotonics

New opportunities for creating quantum states of light and matter with intense laser fields

Nicholas Rivera

Published Mar 31, 2025• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Nonlinear dynamics provide an indispensable resource for creating quantum states of light, as well as other bosonic systems. Seminal work using second- and third-order nonlinear optical crystals, cavity quantum electrodynamics, and superconducting circuits, have enabled generating squeezed states, as well as various non-Gaussian quantum states (e.g., single photons, cat states) at both infrared and microwave frequencies. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to generate quantum states of light in broad portions of the electromagnetic spectrum: for example, at terahertz frequencies and at ultraviolet and X-ray frequencies. In this Perspective, I discuss a variety of emerging material platforms, as well as emerging theoretical and experimental tools, which enable overcoming these challenges. The main argument of this Perspective is that advances in driving nonlinear dynamics of material excitations, will enable generating quantum states of these material excitations as well as quantum states of light at new frequency ranges. I will further argue that in order to realize much of the promise of this nascent field, there is a need for innovation in the laser systems used to drive these nonlinear dynamics: specifically, innovations in realizing high-power laser sources that have very low noise, having quantum statistics similar to coherent states of light which describe lower intensity laser systems. I will highlight some experimental and theoretical work, in understanding quantum noise dynamics in complex laser systems, that can address these challenges.

DOI
10.1515/nanoph-2024-0605

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Nonlinear dynamics provide an indispensable resource for creating quantum states of light, as well as other bosonic systems. Seminal work using second- and third-order nonlinear optical crystals, cavity quantum electrodynamics, and superconducting circuits, have enabled generating squeezed states, as well as various non-Gaussian quantum states (e.g., single photons, cat states) at both infrared and microwave frequencies. Nevertheless, it remains challenging to generate quantum states of light in broad portions of the electromagnetic spectrum: for example, at terahertz frequencies and at ultraviolet and X-ray frequencies. In this Perspective, I discuss a variety of emerging material platforms, as well as emerging theoretical and experimental tools, which enable overcoming these challenges. The main argument of this Perspective is that advances in driving nonlinear dynamics of material excitations, will enable generating quantum states of these material excitations as well as quantum states of light at new frequency ranges. I will further argue that in order to realize much of the promise of this nascent field, there is a need for innovation in the laser systems used to drive these nonlinear dynamics: specifically, innovations in realizing high-power laser sources that have very low noise, having quantum statistics similar to coherent states of light which describe lower intensity laser systems. I will highlight some experimental and theoretical work, in understanding quantum noise dynamics in complex laser systems, that can address these challenges.
Intense light-matter interaction largely relies on the use of high-power light sources, creating fields comparable to, or even stronger than, the field keeping the electrons bound in atoms. Under such conditions, the interaction induces highly nonlinear processes such as high harmonic generation, in which the low-frequency photons of a driving laser field are upconverted into higher-frequency photons. These processes have enabled numerous groundbreaking advances in atomic, molecular, and optical physics, and they form the foundation of attosecond science. Until recently, however, such processes were typically described using semi-classical approximations, since the quantum properties of the light field were not required to explain the observables. This has changed in the recent past. Ongoing theoretical and experimental advances show that fully quantized descriptions of intense light-matter interactions, which explicitly incorporate the quantum nature of the light field, open new avenues for both fundamental research and technological applications at the fully quantized level. These advances emerge from the convergence of quantum optics with strong-field physics and ultrafast science. Together, they have given rise to the field of quantum optics and quantum electrodynamics of strong-field processes.
The generation and application of squeezed light have long been central goals of quantum optics, enabling sensing below the standard quantum limit, optical quantum computing platforms, and more. Intensity noise squeezing of bright (coherent) states, in contrast to squeezed vacuum, is relatively underdeveloped. Bright squeezing has been generated directly through nonlinear optical processes or ``quietly pumped'' semiconductor lasers. However, these methods suffer from weak squeezing limits, narrow operating wavelength ranges, and have not been explored at large bandwidths. Here, we show how semiconductor lasers with sharp intensity-dependent dissipation can support highly broadband intensity noise squeezing from infrared (IR) to terahertz (THz) wavelengths, the latter of which has remained unexplored in quantum noise studies. Our protocol realizes strongly (>10>10>10 dB) intensity noise-squeezed intracavity quantum states, which could create a new regime for cavity quantum electrodynamics experiments, as well as strong output squeezing surpassing gigahertz bandwidths. Furthermore, we show how the same systems also create self-pulsing and bistable mean field behavior, enabling control of light in both the temporal and noise domains. The existence of these multiple functionalities in both the classical and quantum mechanical domains in a single semiconductor laser platform, from IR to THz wavelengths, could enable advances in on-chip quantum optical communication, computing, and sensing across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Photonic integrated circuits with second-order (χ(2)χ^{(2)}χ(2)) nonlinearities are rapidly scaling to remarkably low powers. At this time, state-of-the-art devices achieve saturated nonlinear interactions with thousands of photons when driven by continuous-wave lasers, and further reductions in these energy requirements enabled by the use of ultrafast pulses may soon push nonlinear optics into the realm of single-photon nonlinearities. This tutorial reviews these recent developments in ultrafast nonlinear photonics, discusses design strategies for realizing few-photon nonlinear interactions, and presents a unified treatment of ultrafast quantum nonlinear optics using a framework that smoothly interpolates from classical behaviors to the few-photon scale. These emerging platforms for quantum optics fundamentally differ from typical realizations in cavity quantum electrodynamics due to the large number of coupled optical modes. Classically, multimode behaviors have been well studied in nonlinear optics, with famous examples including soliton formation and supercontinuum generation. In contrast, multimode quantum systems exhibit a far greater variety of behaviors, and yet closed-form solutions are even sparser than their classical counterparts. In developing a framework for ultrafast quantum optics, we will identify what behaviors carry over from classical to quantum devices, what intuition must be abandoned, and what new opportunities exist at the intersection of ultrafast and quantum nonlinear optics. While this article focuses on establishing connections between the classical and quantum behaviors of devices with χ(2)χ^{(2)}χ(2) nonlinearities, the frameworks developed here are general and are readily extended to the description of dynamical processes based on third-order (χ(3)χ^{(3)}χ(3)) nonlinearities.
Abstract Non-classical and entangled light states are of fundamental interest in quantum mechanics and they are a powerful tool for the emergence of new quantum technologies. The development of methods that can lead to the generation of such light states is therefore of high importance. Recently, it has been demonstrated that intense laser-matter interactions can serve towards this direction. Specifically, it has been shown how the use of fully quantized approaches in intense laser-matter interactions and the process of high harmonic generation, can lead to the generation of high photon-number non-classical and entangled states from the far-infrared to the extreme-ultraviolet. Here, after a brief introduction on the fundamentals, we summarize the operation principles of these approaches and discuss the recent developments and future directions of non-classical light engineering using strong light fields with the potential application in ultrafast and quantum information science. These findings represent an important step in the development of novel quantum nonlinear spectroscopy methods, based on the interplay between the quantum properties of light and those of quantum matter.
Photonic integrated circuits with second-order ( χ (2) ) nonlinearities are rapidly scaling to remarkably low powers. At this time, state-of-the-art devices achieve saturated nonlinear interactions with thousands of photons when driven by continuous-wave lasers, and further reductions in these energy requirements enabled by the use of ultrafast pulses may soon push nonlinear optics into the realm of single-photon nonlinearities. This tutorial reviews these recent developments in ultrafast nonlinear photonics, discusses design strategies for realizing few-photon nonlinear interactions, and presents a unified treatment of ultrafast quantum nonlinear optics using a framework that smoothly interpolates from classical behaviors to the few-photon scale. These emerging platforms for quantum optics fundamentally differ from typical realizations in cavity quantum electrodynamics due to the large number of coupled optical modes. Classically, multimode behaviors have been well studied in nonlinear optics, with famous examples including soliton formation and supercontinuum generation. In contrast, multimode quantum systems exhibit a far greater variety of behaviors, and yet closed-form solutions are even sparser than their classical counterparts. In developing a framework for ultrafast quantum optics, we identify what behaviors carry over from classical to quantum devices, what intuition must be abandoned, and what new opportunities exist at the intersection of ultrafast and quantum nonlinear optics. Although this article focuses on establishing connections between the classical and quantum behaviors of devices with χ (2) nonlinearities, the frameworks developed here are general and are readily extended to the description of dynamical processes based on third-order χ (3) nonlinearities.
Non-classical and entangled light states are of fundamental interest in quantum mechanics and they are a powerful tool for the emergence of new quantum technologies. The development of methods that can lead to the generation of such light states is therefore of high importance. Recently, it has been demonstrated that intense laser-matter interactions can serve towards this direction. Specifically, it has been shown how the use of fully quantized approaches in intense laser-matter interactions and the process of high harmonic generation, can lead to the generation of high photon-number non-classical and entangled states from the far-infrared (IR) to the extreme-ultraviolet (XUV). Here, after a brief introduction on the fundamentals, we summarize the operation principles of these approaches and discuss the recent developments and future directions of non-classical light engineering using strong light fields with the potential application in ultrafast and quantum information science. These findings represent an important step in the development of novel quantum nonlinear spectroscopy methods, based on the interplay between the quantum properties of light and those of quantum matter.