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Laser & Photonics Review

Spontaneous Parametric Down‐Conversion in 4H‐SiC Integrated Platform

Xiaodong Shi, Angela Anna Baiju, Veerendra Dhyani, Sihao Wang, Sakthi Sanjeev Mohanraj, Victor Leong, Jiapeng Sun, Boyang Deng, Jingjing Zhang, Yongsheng Wang, Karsten K. Rottwitt, Haiyan Ou, Di Zhu

Published May 1, 2025• 8 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract 4H‐silicon carbide (SiC) has recently emerged as a promising material for nonlinear photonic integrated circuits, thanks to its low loss, wide bandgap, as well as strong second‐order () and third‐order () nonlinearities. Though its unique crystal structure allows versatile processes, spontaneous parametric down‐conversion (SPDC) still remains unrealized. In this work, photon‐pair generation in a 4H‐SiC‐on‐insulator integrated platform is demonstrated through modal‐phase‐matched type‐I SPDC. Furthermore, type‐0 and type‐II nonlinear interactions are shown in 4H‐SiC waveguides, thus highlighting the potential to exploit diverse phase‐matching mechanisms on this platform. These results underscore the potential of 4H‐SiC for advancing the development of integrated quantum photonics in the realms of quantum information processing and quantum communication.

DOI
10.1002/lpor.202500104

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•Jan 15, 2024•1 citation
Abstract 4H‐silicon carbide (SiC) has recently emerged as a promising material for nonlinear photonic integrated circuits, thanks to its low loss, wide bandgap, as well as strong second‐order () and third‐order () nonlinearities. Though its unique crystal structure allows versatile processes, spontaneous parametric down‐conversion (SPDC) still remains unrealized. In this work, photon‐pair generation in a 4H‐SiC‐on‐insulator integrated platform is demonstrated through modal‐phase‐matched type‐I SPDC. Furthermore, type‐0 and type‐II nonlinear interactions are shown in 4H‐SiC waveguides, thus highlighting the potential to exploit diverse phase‐matching mechanisms on this platform. These results underscore the potential of 4H‐SiC for advancing the development of integrated quantum photonics in the realms of quantum information processing and quantum communication.
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.
State-of-the-art photon sources based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) currently rely on artificial structuring of the material nonlinearity to satisfy phase-matching conditions. This technique, known as periodic poling, is available only in a limited number of material platforms and introduces additional fabrication steps and errors, which are detrimental to up-scaling efforts. Here, we present a device architecture that enables SPDC of a wide range of frequencies without the need for periodic poling. We present explicit designs and calculations for 4H Silicon Carbide on-insulator, in which SPDC photon generation is so far unavailable, and thin-film Lithium Niobate on-insulator, a state-of-the-art quantum photonics platform. Our design, based on mode conversion and subsequent modal phase-matched SPDC, facilitates a CMOS compatible χ(2)χ^{(2)}χ(2) platform, and simplifies photon sources by removing the requirement of periodic poling and the associated additional fabrication complexity.
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.
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.
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.