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Chinese Physics B

On-chip closed-loop optical circulation enabled by directional quantum squeezing

HU Qi-zhong, Lin-Peng You, 周沛 Zhou Pei, Lei Tang, Bang-Ping Hou, Cong-Hua Yan

Published Oct 16, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Optical circulators are key components for integrated photonic information processing and quantum networks, yet realizing compact and magnet-free closed-loop circulation remains challenging. We propose an on-chip four-port optical circulator consisting of three evanescently coupled microring resonators, with directional quantum squeezing introduced into the central nonlinear resonator. The squeezing selectively enhances the effective inter-resonator coupling and renormalizes the resonance frequency for one propagation direction, while leaving the counterpropagating channel unaffected. This directional asymmetry breaks optical reciprocity and enables closed-loop circulation along 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 1. At the optimal operating point, the circulator achieves a fidelity of approximately 0.99 and an average insertion loss of about 0.22 dB. In addition, pump-induced quantum noise can be suppressed by injecting a phase-matched broadband squeezed-vacuum field, allowing low-noise operation from the classical to the single-photon regime. The proposed scheme provides a compact, magnet-free, and chip-compatible route to closed-loop optical circulation, with potential applications in integrated optical routing and quantum photonic networks.

DOI
10.1088/1674-1056/aeb53a

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We propose an all-optical approach to achieve optical nonreciprocity on a chip by quantum squeezing one of two coupled resonator modes. By parametric pumping a χ^{(2)}-nonlinear resonator unidirectionally with a classical coherent field, we squeeze the resonator mode in a selective direction due to the phase-matching condition, and induce a chiral photon interaction between two resonators. Based on this chiral interresonator coupling, we achieve an all-optical diode and a three-port quasicirculator. By applying a second squeezed-vacuum field to the squeezed resonator mode, our nonreciprocal device also works for single-photon pulses. We obtain an isolation ratio of >40 dB for the diode and fidelity of >98% for the quasicirculator, and insertion loss of <1 dB for both. We also show that nonreciprocal transmission of strong light can be switched on and off by a relative weak pump light. This achievement implies a nonreciprocal optical transistor. Our protocol opens up a new route to achieve integrable all-optical nonreciprocal devices permitting chip-compatible optical isolation and nonreciporcal quantum information processing.
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Abstract Delicate engineering of integrated nonlinear structures is required for developing scalable sources of non-classical light to be deployed in quantum information processing systems. In this work, we demonstrate a photonic molecule composed of two coupled microring resonators on an integrated nanophotonic chip, designed to generate strongly squeezed light uncontaminated by noise from unwanted parasitic nonlinear processes. By tuning the photonic molecule to selectively couple and thus hybridize only the modes involved in the unwanted processes, suppression of parasitic parametric fluorescence is accomplished. This strategy enables the use of microring resonators for the efficient generation of degenerate squeezed light: without it, simple single-resonator structures cannot avoid contamination from nonlinear noise without significantly compromising pump power efficiency. We use this device to generate 8(1) dB of broadband degenerate squeezed light on-chip, with 1.65(1) dB directly measured.
Delicate engineering of integrated nonlinear structures is required for developing scalable sources of non-classical light to be deployed in quantum information processing systems. In this work, we demonstrate a photonic molecule composed of two coupled microring resonators on an integrated nanophotonic chip, designed to generate strongly squeezed light uncontaminated by noise from unwanted parasitic nonlinear processes. By tuning the photonic molecule to selectively couple and thus hybridize only the modes involved in the unwanted processes, suppression of parasitic parametric fluorescence is accomplished. This strategy enables the use of microring resonators for the efficient generation of degenerate squeezed light: without it, simple single-resonator structures cannot avoid contamination from nonlinear noise without significantly compromising pump power efficiency. We use this device to generate 8(1) dB of broadband degenerate squeezed light on-chip, with 1.65(1) dB directly measured.
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Squeezed light constitutes a key resource for quantum optical technologies including quantum sensing, computing, communication and metrology. For many applications the generation of squeezed light typically requires at least two nonlinear optical stages involving careful phase and frequency matching to achieve the required mixing of squeezed and coherent light. In our work, we introduce an on-chip system that simplifies the generation of coherent-squeezed light, utilizing only a single squeezing stage. We achieve this by pumping a silicon nitride (Si3N4\mathrm{Si_3N_4}Si3​N4​) microring resonator to produce single-mode squeezed light through four-wave mixing at the same frequency as the pump mode, leveraging the inherent χ(3)χ^{(3)}χ(3)-nonlinearity of the Si3N4\mathrm{Si_3N_4}Si3​N4​ resonator. Our on-chip system demonstrates a squeezing of -4.7 dB with a clear perspective towards -10 dB squeezing. We also provide a theoretical model that describes the straightforward yet robust generation of single-mode squeezing at the injection locking point of the ring resonator. In fact, we show that a design with a normal dispersion can be used for robust generation of bright squeezed light without the need for careful suppression of unwanted nonlinear processes. Overall, our findings highlight an approach which drastically simplifies the generation of coherent-squeezed light in photonic integrated circuits.