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1. Mode-evolution-based ultra-broadband polarization beam splitter using adiabatically tapered extreme skin-depth waveguide

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.434110  

   Mia, Md Borhan ; Ahmed, Syed Z. ; Jaidye, Nafiz ; Ahmed, Ishtiaque ; Kim, Sangsik ( September 2021 , Optics Letters)

   We present an ultra-broadband silicon photonic polarization beam splitter (PBS) using adiabatically tapered extreme skin-depth (eskid) waveguides. Highly anisotropic metamaterial claddings of the eskid waveguides suppress the crosstalk of transverse-electric (TE) mode, while the large birefringence of the eskid waveguide efficiently cross-couples the transverse-magnetic (TM) mode. Two eskid waveguides are adiabatically tapered to smoothly translate TM mode to the coupled port via mode evolution while keeping the TE mode in the through port. The tapered cross-section of the eskid PBS was designed numerically, achieving a large bandwidth at 1400–1650 nm with extinction ratios$><\#comment/>20\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$. We experimentally demonstrated the tapered-eskid PBS and confirmed its broad bandwidth at 1490–1640 nm, limited by laser bandwidth. With its mode evolution, the tapered-eskid PBS is tolerant to fabrication imperfections and should be crucial for controlling polarizations in photonic circuits.

    

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2. Simultaneous turbulence mitigation and channel demultiplexing for two 100  Gbit/s orbital-angular-momentum multiplexed beams by adaptive wavefront shaping and diffusing

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.383714  

   Zhang, Runzhou ; Song, Hao ; Zhao, Zhe ; Song, Haoqian ; Du, Jing ; Liu, Cong ; Pang, Kai ; Li, Long ; Zhou, Huibin ; Willner, Ari N. ; et al ( January 2020 , Optics Letters)

   We experimentally demonstrate simultaneous turbulence mitigation and channel demultiplexing in a 200 Gbit/s orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) multiplexed link by adaptive wavefront shaping and diffusing (WSD) the light beams. Different realizations of two emulated turbulence strengths (the Fried parameter$r_0=0.4,1.0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{m}$) are mitigated. The experimental results show the following. (1) Crosstalk between OAM$l=+1$and$l=-<\#comment/>1$modes can be reduced by$><\#comment/>10.0$and$><\#comment/>5.8\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$, respectively, under the weaker turbulence ($r_0=1.0\mathrm{m}\mathrm{m}$); crosstalk is further improved by$><\#comment/>17.7$and$><\#comment/>19.4\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$, respectively, under most realizations in the stronger turbulence ($r_0=0.4\mathrm{m}\mathrm{m}$). (2) The optical signal-to-noise ratio penalties for the bit error rate performance are measured to be$\sim <\#comment/>0.7$and$\sim <\#comment/>1.6\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$under weaker turbulence, while measured to be$\sim <\#comment/>3.2$and$\sim <\#comment/>1.8\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$under stronger turbulence for OAM$l=+1$and$l=-<\#comment/>1$mode, respectively.

    

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3. Utilizing adaptive optics to mitigate intra-modal-group power coupling of graded-index few-mode fiber in a 200-Gbit/s mode-division-multiplexed link

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.394307  

   Zhang, Runzhou ; Song, Hao ; Song, Haoqian ; Zhao, Zhe ; Milione, Giovanni ; Pang, Kai ; Du, Jing ; Li, Long ; Zou, Kaiheng ; Zhou, Huibin ; et al ( June 2020 , Optics Letters)

   We experimentally demonstrate the utilization of adaptive optics (AO) to mitigate intra-group power coupling among linearly polarized (LP) modes in a graded-index few-mode fiber (GI FMF). Generally, in this fiber, the coupling between degenerate modes inside a modal group tends to be stronger than between modes belonging to different groups. In our approach, the coupling inside the${\mathrm{L}\mathrm{P}}_{11}$group can be represented by a combination of orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) modes, such that reducing power coupling in OAM set tends to indicate the capability to reduce the coupling inside the${\mathrm{L}\mathrm{P}}_{11}$group. We employ two output OAM modes$l=+1$and$l=-<\#comment/>1$as resultant linear combinations of degenerate${\mathrm{L}\mathrm{P}}_{11\mathrm{a}}$and${\mathrm{L}\mathrm{P}}_{11\mathrm{b}}$modes inside the${\mathrm{L}\mathrm{P}}_{11}$group of a$\sim <\#comment/>0.6\text{-}\mathrm{k}\mathrm{m}$GI FMF. The power coupling is mitigated by shaping the amplitude and phase of the distorted OAM modes. Each OAM mode carries an independent 20-, 40-, or 100-Gbit/s quadrature-phase-shift-keying data stream. We measure the transmission matrix (TM) in the OAM basis within${\mathrm{L}\mathrm{P}}_{11}$group, which is a subset of the full LP TM of the FMF-based system. An inverse TM is subsequently implemented before the receiver by a spatial light modulator to mitigate the intra-modal-group power coupling. With AO mitigation, the experimental results for$l=+1$and$l=-<\#comment/>1$modes show, respectively, that (i) intra-modal-group crosstalk is reduced by$><\#comment/>5.8\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$and$><\#comment/>5.6\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$and (ii) near-error-free bit-error-rate performance is achieved with a penalty of$\sim <\#comment/>0.6\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$and$\sim <\#comment/>3.8\mathrm{d}\mathrm{B}$, respectively.

    

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4. 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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5. Design of infrared microspectrometer based on phase-modulated axilenses

   https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.390610  

   Chen, Yuyao ; Britton, Wesley A. ; Dal Negro, Luca ( June 2020 , Applied Optics)

   We design and characterize a novel axilens-based diffractive optics platform that flexibly combines efficient point focusing and grating selectivity and is compatible with scalable top-down fabrication based on a four-level phase mask configuration. This is achieved using phase-modulated compact axilens devices that simultaneously focus incident radiation of selected wavelengths at predefined locations with larger focal depths compared with traditional Fresnel lenses. In addition, the proposed devices are polarization-insensitive and maintain a large focusing efficiency over a broad spectral band. Specifically, here we discuss and characterize modulated axilens configurations designed for long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) in the 6 µm–12 µm wavelength range and in the 4 µm–6 µm midwavelength infrared (MWIR) range. These devices are ideally suited for monolithic integration atop the substrate layers of infrared focal plane arrays and for use as compact microspectrometers. We systematically study their focusing efficiency, spectral response, and cross-talk ratio; further, we demonstrate linear control of multiwavelength focusing on a single plane. Our design method leverages Rayleigh–Sommerfeld diffraction theory and is validated numerically using the finite element method. Finally, we demonstrate the application of spatially modulated axilenses to the realization of a compact, single-lens spectrometer. By optimizing our devices, we achieve a minimum distinguishable wavelength interval of$\mathrm{\Delta <\#comment/>}\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}=240\mathrm{n}\mathrm{m}$at${\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}}_c=8\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{m}$and$\mathrm{\Delta <\#comment/>}\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}=165\mathrm{n}\mathrm{m}$at${\mathrm{\lambda <\#comment/>}}_c=5\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{m}$. The proposed devices add fundamental spectroscopic capabilities to compact imaging devices for a number of applications ranging from spectral sorting to LWIR and MWIR phase contrast imaging and detection.

    

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