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Ultrafast Science

Generation of Single-Mode and Multimode Bright Squeezed Vacuum above 10 14 Photons

Zijian Lyu, SHAOWEI du, Jingze Li, Haodong Liu, fengxiao sun, Qiongyi He, Marcelo F. Ciappina, yunquan liu

Published Jan 1, 2026• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Squeezed states of light and entangled photon source are fundamental resources for quantum science and technology, enabling advances in quantum communication, computation, and precision metrology. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the generation of ultrabright squeezed vacuum and entangled photon pairs via type-I high-gain parametric down-conversion. Using femtosecond pump pulses at 1,030 nm, we produce ultrabright squeezed vacuum with pulses energies on the order of 10 μJ at a central wavelength of 2,060 nm, corresponding to a photon number exceeding 10 14 . By implementing SU(1,1) interferometric configuration, we achieve flexible control over the mode structure, allowing the transition between multimode entangled photon pairs and nearly single-mode squeezed states. This results provide a high-intensity quantum light source that facilitates the study of nonclassical ultrafast dynamics.

DOI
10.34133/ultrafastscience.0175

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Squeezed states of light and entangled photon source are fundamental resources for quantum science and technology, enabling advances in quantum communication, computation, and precision metrology. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the generation of ultrabright squeezed vacuum and entangled photon pairs via type-I high-gain parametric down-conversion. Using femtosecond pump pulses at 1,030 nm, we produce ultrabright squeezed vacuum with pulses energies on the order of 10 μJ at a central wavelength of 2,060 nm, corresponding to a photon number exceeding 10 14 . By implementing SU(1,1) interferometric configuration, we achieve flexible control over the mode structure, allowing the transition between multimode entangled photon pairs and nearly single-mode squeezed states. This results provide a high-intensity quantum light source that facilitates the study of nonclassical ultrafast dynamics.
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Bright squeezed vacuum (BSV) is an intense quantum state of light with zero mean electric field and huge photon number fluctuations, sufficiently intense to drive extreme nonlinear processes and imprint nonclassical statistics. However, the temporal structure of single BSV shots has not been fully characterized. Here, we retrieve the spectral and temporal pulse characteristics of a set of single-peak BSV shots. It is obtained by realizing a femtosecond BSV source at 1040 nm with a single spatial mode and performing single-shot spectral interferometry with a fully characterized coherent-state reference pulse. Our approach reveals that the group delay is consistent between the various shots, resulting in an average pulse duration of 27.2 fs, much shorter than the pump pulse, and a variation of 5.5 fs (standard deviation). We also observe a characteristic nodal structure in the spectral interferograms, demonstrating the BSV’s random phase ambiguity of π rad. Our approach demonstrates that BSV is a viable source of femtosecond light pulses for attosecond sub-cycle metrology of ultrafast electron dynamics.
Squeezed light has evolved into a powerful tool for quantum technology, ranging from quantum-enhanced sensing and quantum-state engineering based on partial postselection techniques.The pulsed generation of squeezed light is of particular interest, as it can provide accurate time stamps and a physically defined temporal mode, which are highly preferred in complex communication networks and large-scale information processing.However, the multimode feature of pulsed squeezing limits the purity of the output state, negatively impacting its application in quantum technology.Previous demonstrations and analysis of pulsed squeezing focus on single-pass configurations and synchronously pumped free-space cavities.In this paper, we propose a different approach to generate pulsed squeezing with high temporal purity, where a parametric down-conversion process in integrated photonic cavities is pumped by a single-pass pulse.We show that the effective mode number of the output pulsed squeezing approaches unity.Such a high-purity squeezed light can be realized with broad parameters and a low pump power, providing a robust approach to generating large-scale quantum resources.
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The bright squeezed vacuum state of light is a macroscopic nonclassical state found at the output of a strongly pumped unseeded travelling-wave optical parametric amplifier. It has been applied to quantum imaging, quantum communication, and phase supersensitivity, to name a few. Bright squeezed states are in general highly multimode, while most applications require a single mode. We separated two nonlinear crystals in the direction of propagation of the pump in order to narrow the angular spectrum down to a nearly-single angular mode. We observed noise reduction in the photon number difference between the two down-converted channels, which constitutes of proof of nonclassicality. By introducing a dispersive medium between the two nonlinear crystals, we were able to tailor the frequency spectrum of bright squeezed vacuum and to dramatically reduce the number of frequency modes down to 1.82 ± 0.02, bringing us closer to truly single-mode bright squeezed vacuum.