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1. 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 ( ${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{\left(2\right)}$) optical nonlinearity, especially lithium niobate, play a critical role in building optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). However, chip-scale integration of low-loss ${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{\left(2\right)}$materials remains challenging and limits the threshold power of on-chip ${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{\left(2\right)}$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 ${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{\left(2\right)}$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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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. InGaP quantum nanophotonic integrated circuits with 1.5% nonlinearity-to-loss ratio

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.440383  

   Zhao, Mengdi; Fang, Kejie (February 2022, Optica)

   Optical nonlinearity plays a pivotal role in quantum information processing using photons, from heralded single-photon sources and coherent wavelength conversion to long-sought quantum repeaters. Despite the availability of strong dipole coupling to quantum emitters, achieving strong bulk optical nonlinearity is highly desirable. Here, we realize quantum nanophotonic integrated circuits in thin-film InGaP with, to our knowledge, a record-high ratio of $1.5\mathrm{\%<\#comment/>}$between the single-photon nonlinear coupling rate ( $g/2\mathrm{\pi <\#comment/>}=11.2\mathrm{M}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$) and cavity-photon loss rate. We demonstrate second-harmonic generation with an efficiency of $71200\pm <\#comment/>10300\mathrm{\%<\#comment/>}/\mathrm{W}$in the InGaP photonic circuit and photon-pair generation via degenerate spontaneous parametric downconversion with an ultrahigh rate exceeding 27.5 MHz/µW—an order of magnitude improvement of the state of the art—and a large coincidence-to-accidental ratio up to $1.4\times <\#comment/>{10}^4$. Our work shows InGaP as a potentially transcending platform for quantum nonlinear optics and quantum information applications. 

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4. Widely separated optical Kerr parametric oscillation in AlN microrings

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.384317  

   Tang, Yulong; Gong, Zheng; Liu, Xianwen; Tang, Hong_X (February 2020, Optics Letters)

   Here, we report ${\mathrm{\chi <\#comment/>}}^{\left(3\right)}$-based optical parametric oscillation (OPO) with widely separated signal–idler frequencies from crystalline aluminum nitride microrings pumped at $2\text{µ<\#comment/>}\mathrm{m}$. By tailoring the width of the microring, OPO reaching toward the telecom and mid-infrared bands with a frequency separation of 64.2 THz is achieved. While dispersion engineering through changing the microring width is capable of shifting the OPO sideband by $><\#comment/>9\mathrm{T}\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$, the OPO frequency can also be agilely tuned in the ranges of 1 and 0.1 THz, respectively, by shifting the pump wavelength and controlling the chip’s temperature. At high pump powers, the OPO sidebands further evolve into localized frequency comb lines. Such large-frequency-shift OPO with flexible wavelength tunability will lead to enhanced chip-scale light sources. 

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5. Bell state analyzer for spectrally distinct photons

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.443302  

   Lingaraju, Navin_B; Lu, Hsuan-Hao; Leaird, Daniel_E; Estrella, Steven; Lukens, Joseph_M; Weiner, Andrew_M (March 2022, Optica)

   We demonstrate a Bell state analyzer that operates directly on frequency mismatch. Based on electro-optic modulators and Fourier-transform pulse shapers, our quantum frequency processor design implements interleaved Hadamard gates in discrete frequency modes. Experimental tests on entangled-photon inputs reveal fidelities of $\sim <\#comment/>98\mathrm{\%<\#comment/>}$for discriminating between the $|{\mathrm{\Psi <\#comment/>}}^{+}⟩<\#comment/>$and $|{\mathrm{\Psi <\#comment/>}}^{-<\#comment/>}⟩<\#comment/>$frequency-bin Bell states. Our approach resolves the tension between wavelength-multiplexed state transport and high-fidelity Bell state measurements, which typically require spectral indistinguishability. 

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