Abstract Quantum light sources play a foundational role in a wide range of emerging quantum technologies, from secure communication to precision measurement and sensing. Here, we report experimental advances at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, where we have developed a variety of home-built sources and testbeds tailored to application-driven studies. Using fiber-based four-wave mixing, we generate correlated photon pairs with frequency-comb structure, enabling tunable and spectrally flexible non-classical states. We demonstrate simultaneous multimode excitation in a Sagnac-based entangled-photon source, providing a scalable platform for polarization entanglement. We present a machined bow-tie cavity for squeezed-light generation, along with mode analysis of Hermite-Gaussian modes using a spatial light modulator (SLM). In parallel, we develop rare-earth-doped fiber lasers that provide stable and narrow-linewidth operation as practical pump sources for quantum optics experiments. We further outline proposals for quantum-imaging experiments exploiting undetected photon schemes to achieve near-infrared imaging with visible detection, and for high-dimensional entanglement generation using orbital angular momentum states characterized via a Zou-Wang-Mandel interferometer. Together, these platforms illustrate the versatility of optical architectures in producing and manipulating non-classical states of light, and they position IIT Madras as a key contributor to the broader effort of building scalable quantum photonic technologies in India.
Abstract Quantum light sources play a foundational role in a wide range of emerging quantum technologies, from secure communication to precision measurement and sensing. Here, we report experimental advances at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, where we have developed a variety of home-built sources and testbeds tailored to application-driven studies. Using fiber-based four-wave mixing, we generate correlated photon pairs with frequency-comb structure, enabling tunable and spectrally flexible non-classical states. We demonstrate simultaneous multimode excitation in a Sagnac-based entangled-photon source, providing a scalable platform for polarization entanglement. We present a machined bow-tie cavity for squeezed-light generation, along with mode analysis of Hermite-Gaussian modes using a spatial light modulator (SLM). In parallel, we develop rare-earth-doped fiber lasers that provide stable and narrow-linewidth operation as practical pump sources for quantum optics experiments. We further outline proposals for quantum-imaging experiments exploiting undetected photon schemes to achieve near-infrared imaging with visible detection, and for high-dimensional entanglement generation using orbital angular momentum states characterized via a Zou-Wang-Mandel interferometer. Together, these platforms illustrate the versatility of optical architectures in producing and manipulating non-classical states of light, and they position IIT Madras as a key contributor to the broader effort of building scalable quantum photonic technologies in India.
The investigation of integrated frequency comb sources characterized by equidistant spectral modes was initially driven by considerations toward classical applications, seeking a more practical and miniaturized way to generate stable broadband sources of light. Recently, in the context of scaling the complexity of optical quantum circuits, these on-chip approaches have provided a new framework to address the challenges associated with non-classical state generation and manipulation. For example, multi-photon and high-dimensional states were to date either inaccessible, lacked scalability, or were difficult to manipulate, requiring elaborate approaches. The emerging field of quantum frequency combs studying spectral multimode sources based on the judicious excitation of (typically) third-order nonlinear optical micro-cavities has begun to address these issues. Several quantum sources based on this concept have already been demonstrated, among them are combs of correlated photons, cross-polarized photon pairs, entangled photon pairs, multi-photon states, and high-dimensional entangled states. While sources have achieved increasing complexity, so have coherent state processing operations, demonstrated in a practical manner using standard telecommunications components. Here, we review our recent work in the development of this framework, with a focus on multi-photon and high-dimensional states. The integrated frequency comb platform thus demonstrates significant potential for the development of meaningful quantum optical technologies.
The development of integrated photonic systems, both on-chip and fiber-based, has transformed quantum photonics by replacing bulky, fragile free-space optical setups with compact, efficient, and robust circuits. Photonic platforms incorporating fiber-connected sources of correlated and entangled photon pairs offer practical advantages, such as operation at room temperature, efficient integration with telecom infrastructure, and compatibility with mature and efficient semiconductor fabrication processes for cost-effective and large-scale optical circuits. The stability and scalability of integrated quantum photonics platforms have facilitated the generation and processing of quantum information in the temporal domain within a single spatial mode. Time-bin encoded states, known for their robustness against decoherence and compatibility with existing fiber-optic infrastructure, have shown to be an efficient paradigm for advanced applications like quantum secure communication, information processing, spectroscopy, imaging, and sensing. This review examines recent advancements in fiber- and chip-based platforms for generating non-classical states and their applications as quantum state processors in the time domain. We discuss the generation of pulsed quantum frequency combs using microring resonators and intra-cavity mode-locked laser schemes, enabling co- and cross-polarized quantum photonic states. Additionally, the versatility of these resonator chips for entanglement generation is emphasized, including two- and multi-photon time-bin entangled schemes. We highlight the development of time-bin entanglement analyzers in fiber architectures, featuring ultrahigh stability and post-selection-free capabilities, which enable precise and efficient characterization of two- and higher-dimensional time-bin entanglement. We also review scalable on-chip schemes for quantum key distribution, demonstrating low quantum bit error rates and compatibility with higher-dimensional quantum communication protocols. Further, methods for enhancing temporal resolution in detection schemes, crucial for time-bin encoding, are presented, such as the time-stretch sampling technique using electro-optic modulation. These innovations, relying on readily available, telecom-based fiber-optic components, provide practical, scalable, and cost-effective solutions for advancing quantum photonic technologies. Looking forward, time-bin encoding is expected to play a pivotal role in the advancement of quantum repeaters, distributed quantum networks, and hybrid light-matter systems, advancing the realization of globally scalable quantum technologies.
Quantum metrology leverages quantum resources to surpass classical limits in measurement sensitivity, enabling new capabilities across fields ranging from fundamental physics to sensing, imaging, and navigation. As these techniques mature, an increasing emphasis is being placed on translating quantum-enhanced performance into practical, robust systems that can operate outside controlled laboratory environments. The overarching objective of the work presented in this dissertation is to develop sensing platforms that achieve improved performance by leveraging quantum resources in realistic, noisy environments. In particular, this work focuses on the use of squeezed states of light, and investigates how two-mode squeezed states generated through four-wave mixing can be developed into compact sources and integrated with practical fiber-optic and plasmonic sensing platforms. Squeezed states of light, and in particular two-mode squeezed states (twin beams), constitute a powerful resource in quantum metrology. Their reduced quantum noise enables measurements below the noise level that can be achieved with classical resources, know as the shot-noise limit, offering genuine quantum advantages in precision sensing and measurement. Beyond their fundamental interest, such states provide a pathway toward practical quantum technologies capable of outperforming classical approaches in real-world applications. For many practical implementations, it is therefore highly advantageous to demonstrate squeezed light sources that are compact, stable, and compatible with existing photonic infrastructures. This is needed to lower the barrier to incorporate quantum resources into experiments and sensing platforms, particularly in environments where bulky or delicate optical setups are impractical. To demonstrate a pathway toward practical quantum sensing with squeezed light, this dissertation presents experimental studies spanning both the development of deployable squeezed-light sources and their application in practical or real-world sensing platforms. We present the development of a compact, narrowband, fiber-coupled source of squeezed light based on four-wave mixing in hot Rb 85 vapor. The system achieves more than 4 dB of intensity-difference squeezing after propagation through polarization-maintaining fibers, demonstrating that strong quantum correlations can be preserved even when fiber coupled. This platform serves as a standalone proof-of-principle demonstration of a deployable, low–size, weight, and power (low-SWaP) squeezed-light source that is well suited for applications where fiber delivery of quantum-correlated light can be readily integrated into existing experimental and sensing platforms. In addition to this source development, the dissertation investigates two distinct applications of twin-beam for quantum-enhanced sensing. The first one focuses on fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors, which are widely used to monitor strain, vibration, and temperature in applications ranging from civil infrastructure and aerospace systems to oil and gas pipeline monitoring. By coupling the squeezed light into separate FBGs and employing differential detection, common-mode noise is suppressed while localized perturbations are retained. This work provides a feasibility study for using twin-beams to enhance the sensitivity of FBG-based sensors beyond classical limits while providing robustness against environmental noise. The second application examines plasmonic sensors based on surface plasmon resonances in metallic nanostructures, which enable highly sensitive detection of small changes in refractive index. Such plasmonic sensors are particularly useful for applications in chemical and biological sensing, environmental monitoring, and lab-on-chip platforms, where compactness and high sensitivity to refractive index changes are critical. A dual-probing scheme is introduced in which both beams of a two-mode squeezed state interact with a polarization-dependent plasmonic nanostructure. By exploiting opposite spectral response for orthogonal polarizations, this approach improves measurement sensitivity relative to our previous technique of using one beam to probe the plasmonic sensor and the other to serve as a reference. This new technique takes advantage of transducing information into both the beams while preserving the benefits of differential detection for noise cancellation. Taken together, these studies illustrate complementary approaches for leveraging quantum correlations for practical sensing problems. Through the development of a compact, fiber-compatible squeezed-light source and independent demonstrations of enhanced performance in both fiber-optic and plasmonic sensors, this dissertation advances pathways for translating quantum sensing approaches based on quantum states of light from laboratory demonstrations into deployable metrology tools.
Non-classical light is both easily encoded with quantum information and robust against decoherence, making it a key resource that enables many quantum information applications including quantum computing, quantum communication, and quantum metrology. We present a wide range of experimental and theoretical research toward the generation, detection, characterization, and storage of non-classical states of light with an eye toward quantum information applications. To provide a basis for the rest of the work, we begin by discussing theoretically the role of photon number statistics in optical quantum information and the use of second-order optical coherence to characterize non-classical light. Building on that, we present an original tool for the difficult problem of reconstructing the underlying mode distribution of multi-mode optical fields using simple measurements of higher-order optical coherence. We then move on to the problem of generating and storing single photons. We do this in a solid-state medium, a rare-earth ion-doped crystal, with a long-lived spin transition ideal for storing quantum information. We experimentally demonstrate the feasibility of this concept by showing correlations between the optical fields that herald storage and retrieval of collective excitations. This scheme can be used for the two important and distinct applications of generating single photons on-demand and storing quantum information and entanglement. The detection of non-classical light is a task as important as its generation. To this end, we study detectors with near unity detection efficiency and photon number resolution for use in quantum-enabled metrology. We use such a detector to experimentally demonstrate compression of spatial fringes and investigate the possibility of improving measurement resolution with classical and non-classical light. Finally, we report a set of experiments using photon number statistics to characterize classical and non-classical light. We measure suppression of unwanted multi-photon emission in a heralded single photon source based on four-wave mixing in microstructure optical fiber. And we, for the first time, experimentally demonstrate reconstruction of multi-mode classical and non-classical light from measured photon number statistics.
Abstract Integrated photonics has recently become a leading platform for the realization and processing of optical entangled quantum states in compact, robust, and scalable chip formats with applications in long-distance quantum-secured communication, quantum-accelerated information processing, and non-classical metrology. However, the quantum light sources developed so far have relied on external bulky excitation lasers making them impractical, not reproducible prototype devices, hindering scalability and the transfer out of the lab into real-world applications. Here we demonstrate a fully integrated quantum light source, which overcomes these challenges through the combined integration of a laser cavity, a highly efficient tunable noise suppression filter (> 55 dB) exploiting the Vernier effect, and a nonlinear microring for entangled photon pair generation through spontaneous four-wave mixing. The hybrid quantum source employs an electrically-pumped InP gain section and a Si₃N₄ low-loss microring filter system and demonstrates high-performance parameters, i.e., a pair emission over four resonant modes in the telecom band (bandwidth ∼ 1 THz), and a remarkable pair detection rate of ∼ 620 Hz at a high coincidence-to-accidental ratio of ∼80. The source directly creates high-dimensional frequency-bin entangled quantum states (qubits/qudits), verified by quantum interference measurements with visibilities up to 96% (violating Bell-inequality) and by density matrix reconstruction through state tomography showing fidelities of up to 99%. Our approach, leveraging a hybrid photonic platform, enables commercial-viable, low-cost, compact, light-weight, and field-deployable entangled quantum sources, quintessential for practical, out-of-lab applications, e.g., in quantum processors and quantum satellite communications systems.
The ability to generate complex optical photon states involving entanglement between multiple optical modes is not only critical to advancing our understanding of quantum mechanics but will play a key role in generating many applications in quantum technologies. These include quantum communications, computation, imaging, microscopy and many other novel technologies that are constantly being proposed. However, approaches to generating parallel multiple, customisable bi- and multi-entangled quantum bits (qubits) on a chip are still in the early stages of development. Here, we review recent advances in the realisation of integrated sources of photonic quantum states, focusing on approaches based on nonlinear optics that are compatible with contemporary optical fibre telecommunications and quantum memory platforms as well as with chip-scale semiconductor technology. These new and exciting platforms hold the promise of compact, low-cost, scalable and practical implementations of sources for the generation and manipulation of complex quantum optical states on a chip, which will play a major role in bringing quantum technologies out of the laboratory and into the real world.