Materials with strong second-order (
Quantum networks are likely to have a profound impact on the way we compute and communicate in the future. In order to wire together superconducting quantum processors over kilometer-scale distances, we need transducers that can generate entanglement between the microwave and optical domains with high fidelity. We present an integrated electro-optic transducer that combines low-loss lithium niobate photonics with superconducting microwave resonators on a sapphire substrate. Our triply resonant device operates in a dilution refrigerator and converts microwave photons to optical photons with an on-chip efficiency of
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10204837
- Publisher / Repository:
- Optical Society of America
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Optica
- Volume:
- 7
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2334-2536
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: Article No. 1737
- Size(s):
- Article No. 1737
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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) optical nonlinearity, especially lithium niobate, play a critical role in building optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). However, chip-scale integration of low-loss materials remains challenging and limits the threshold power of on-chip 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 ( ) is 400 times lower than that in previous 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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