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1. Electro-optic interface for ultrasensitive intracavity electric field measurements at microwave and terahertz frequencies

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.384160  

   Benea-Chelmus, Ileana-Cristina ; Salamin, Yannick ; Settembrini, Francesca Fabiana ; Fedoryshyn, Yuriy ; Heni, Wolfgang ; Elder, Delwin L. ; Dalton, Larry R. ; Leuthold, Juerg ; Faist, Jérôme ( May 2020 , Optica)

   Electro-optic quantum coherent interfaces map the amplitude and phase of a quantum signal directly to the phase or intensity of a probe beam. At terahertz frequencies, a fundamental challenge is not only to sense such weak signals (due to a weak coupling with a probe in the near-infrared) but also to resolve them in the time domain. Cavity confinement of both light fields can increase the interaction and achieve strong coupling. Using this approach, current realizations are limited to low microwave frequencies. Alternatively, in bulk crystals, electro-optic sampling was shown to reach quantum-level sensitivity of terahertz waves. Yet, the coupling strength was extremely weak. Here, we propose an on-chip architecture that concomitantly provides subcycle temporal resolution and an extreme sensitivity to sense terahertz intracavity fields below 20 V/m. We use guided femtosecond pulses in the near-infrared and a confinement of the terahertz wave to a volume of$V_{\mathrm{T}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}}\sim <\#comment/>{10}^{-<\#comment/>9}({\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}}_{\mathrm{T}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}}/2{)}^3$in combination with ultraperformant organic molecules ($r_{33}=170\mathrm{p}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{V}$) and accomplish a record-high single-photon electro-optic coupling rate of$g_{\mathrm{e}\mathrm{o}}=2\mathrm{\pi <\#comment/>}\times <\#comment/>0.043\mathrm{G}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$, 10,000 times higher than in recent reports of sensing vacuum field fluctuations in bulk media. Via homodyne detection implemented directly on chip, the interaction results into an intensity modulation of the femtosecond pulses. The single-photon cooperativity is$C_0=1.6\times <\#comment/>{10}^{-<\#comment/>8}$, and the multiphoton cooperativity is$C=0.002$at room temperature. We show$><\#comment/>70\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$dynamic range in intensity at 500 ms integration under irradiation with a weak coherent terahertz field. Similar devices could be employed in future measurements of quantum states in the terahertz at the standard quantum limit, or for entanglement of subsystems on subcycle temporal scales, such as terahertz and near-infrared quantum bits.

    

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2. Efficient and highly tunable second-harmonic generation in Z-cut periodically poled lithium niobate nanowaveguides

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.393445  

   Chen, Jia-Yang ; Tang, Chao ; Ma, Zhao-Hui ; Li, Zhan ; Meng Sua, Yong ; Huang, Yu-Ping ( July 2020 , Optics Letters)

   Thin-film lithium-niobate-on-insulator (LNOI) has emerged as a superior integrated-photonics platform for linear, nonlinear, and electro-optics. Here we combine quasi-phase-matching, dispersion engineering, and tight mode confinement to realize nonlinear parametric processes with both high efficiency and wide wavelength tunability. On a millimeter-long, Z-cut LNOI waveguide, we demonstrate efficient ($1900\pm <\#comment/>500\mathrm{\%<\#comment/>}{\mathrm{W}}^{-<\#comment/>1}{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^{-<\#comment/>2}$) and highly tunable ($-<\#comment/>1.71\mathrm{n}\mathrm{m}/\mathrm{K}$) second-harmonic generation from 1530 to 1583 nm by type-0 quasi-phase-matching. Our technique is applicable to optical harmonic generation, quantum light sources, frequency conversion, and many other photonic information processes across visible to mid-IR spectral bands.

    

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3. Ultralow-threshold thin-film lithium niobate optical parametric oscillator

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.418984  

   Lu, Juanjuan ; Al Sayem, Ayed ; Gong, Zheng ; Surya, Joshua B. ; Zou, Chang-Ling ; Tang, Hong X. ( April 2021 , Optica)

   Materials with strong second-order (${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{(2)}$) optical nonlinearity, especially lithium niobate, play a critical role in building optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). However, chip-scale integration of low-loss${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{(2)}$materials remains challenging and limits the threshold power of on-chip${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{(2)}$OPO. Here we report an on-chip lithium niobate optical parametric oscillator at the telecom wavelengths using a quasi-phase-matched, high-quality microring resonator, whose threshold power ($\sim <\#comment/>30\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{W}$) is 400 times lower than that in previous${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{(2)}$integrated photonics platforms. An on-chip power conversion efficiency of 11% is obtained from pump to signal and idler fields at a pump power of 93 µW. The OPO wavelength tuning is achieved by varying the pump frequency and chip temperature. With the lowest power threshold among all on-chip OPOs demonstrated so far, as well as advantages including high conversion efficiency, flexibility in quasi-phase-matching, and device scalability, the thin-film lithium niobate OPO opens new opportunities for chip-based tunable classical and quantum light sources and provides a potential platform for realizing photonic neural networks.

    

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4. Spectrally simplified approach for leveraging legacy geostationary oceanic observations

   https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.465491  

   Houskeeper, Henry F. ; Hooker, Stanford B. ; Cavanaugh, Kyle C. ( September 2022 , Applied Optics)

   The use of multispectral geostationary satellites to study aquatic ecosystems improves the temporal frequency of observations and mitigates cloud obstruction, but no operational capability presently exists for the coastal and inland waters of the United States. The Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) on the current iteration of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites, termed the$R$Series (GOES-R), however, provides sub-hourly imagery and the opportunity to overcome this deficit and to leverage a large repository of existing GOES-R aquatic observations. The fulfillment of this opportunity is assessed herein using a spectrally simplified, two-channel aquatic algorithm consistent with ABI wave bands to estimate the diffuse attenuation coefficient for photosynthetically available radiation,$K_d(\mathrm{P}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{R})$. First, anin situABI dataset was synthesized using a globally representative dataset of above- and in-water radiometric data products. Values of$K_d(\mathrm{P}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{R})$were estimated by fitting the ratio of the shortest and longest visible wave bands from thein situABI dataset to coincident,in situ$K_d(\mathrm{P}\mathrm{A}\mathrm{R})$data products. The algorithm was evaluated based on an iterative cross-validation analysis in which 80% of the dataset was randomly partitioned for fitting and the remaining 20% was used for validation. The iteration producing the median coefficient of determination ($R^2$) value (0.88) resulted in a root mean square difference of$0.319{\mathrm{m}}^{-<\#comment/>1}$, or 8.5% of the range in the validation dataset. Second, coincident mid-day images of central and southern California from ABI and from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) were compared using Google Earth Engine (GEE). GEE default ABI reflectance values were adjusted based on a near infrared signal. Matchups between the ABI and MODIS imagery indicated similar spatial variability ($R^2=0.60$) between ABI adjusted blue-to-red reflectance ratio values and MODIS default diffuse attenuation coefficient for spectral downward irradiance at 490 nm,$K_d(490)$, values. This work demonstrates that if an operational capability to provide ABI aquatic data products was realized, the spectral configuration of ABI would potentially support a sub-hourly, visible aquatic data product that is applicable to water-mass tracing and physical oceanography research.

    

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5. Emission of R6G dye in Fabry–Perot cavities in weak and strong coupling regimes

   https://doi.org/10.1364/JOSAB.403612  

   Faruk, Md Omar ; Jerop, Nelly ; Noginov, Mikhail A. ( October 2020 , Journal of the Optical Society of America B)

   We have studied spectra and angular distribution of emission in Fabry–Perot cavities formed by two silver mirrors separated by a layer of poly (methyl methacrylate) polymer doped with rhodamine 6G (R6G) dye in low ($20\mathrm{g}/\mathrm{l}$) and high ($200\mathrm{g}/\mathrm{l}$) concentrations. The frequency of emission radiated to a cavity mode was larger at large outcoupling angles—the “rainbow” effect. At the same time, the angle of the strongest emission was also determined by the cavity size: the larger the cavity, the larger the angle. The angular distribution of emission is commonly dominated by two symmetrical lobes (located at the intersection of the three-dimensional emission cone with a horizontal plane) pointing to the left and to the right of the normal to the sample. Despite the strong Stokes shift in R6G dye, the branch of the cavity dispersion curve obtained in the emission experiment is positioned above the one obtained in the reflection (extinction) experiment. Some dye molecules are poorly coupled to cavity modes. Their emission has very broad angular distribution with the maximum at$\mathrm{\theta <\#comment/>}=0^{\circ <\#comment/>}$. The signatures of strong cavity–exciton coupling were observed at high dye concentration ($200\mathrm{g}/\mathrm{l}$) but not at low concentration ($20\mathrm{g}/\mathrm{l}$). The evidence of the effect of strong coupling on emission is exemplified by a strong difference in the angular distribution of emission in two almost identical cavities, one with and another without strong coupling. Most importantly, we have demonstrated the possibility to control the ground state concentration, the coupling strength, and the dye emission spectra with Q-switched laser pulses.

    

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