InGaP quantum nanophotonic integrated circuits with 1.5% nonlinearity-to-loss ratio

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$1.5%<#comment/>$between the single-photon nonlinear coupling rate ($g/2π<#comment/>=11.2MHz$) and cavity-photon loss rate. We demonstrate second-harmonic generation with an efficiency of$71200±<#comment/>10300%<#comment/>/W$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$1.4×<#comment/>104$. Our work shows InGaP as a potentially transcending platform for quantum nonlinear optics and quantum information applications.

Authors:
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Award ID(s):
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10369322
Journal Name:
Optica
Volume:
9
Issue:
2
Page Range or eLocation-ID:
Article No. 258
ISSN:
2334-2536
Publisher:
Optical Society of America
1. 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$VTHz∼<#comment/>10−<#comment/>9(λ<#comment/>THz/2)3$in combination with ultraperformant organic molecules ($r33=170pm/V$) and accomplish a record-high single-photon electro-optic coupling rate of, 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$C0=1.6×<#comment/>10−<#comment/>8$, and the multiphoton cooperativity is$C=0.002$at room temperature. We show$><#comment/>70dB$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.
2. 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 ($1900±<#comment/>500%<#comment/>W−<#comment/>1cm−<#comment/>2$) and highly tunable ($−<#comment/>1.71nm/K$) 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.
3. The absence of the single-photon nonlinearity has been a major roadblock in developing quantum photonic circuits at optical frequencies. In this paper, we demonstrate a periodically poled thin film lithium niobate microring resonator (PPLNMR) that reaches 5,000,000%/W second-harmonic conversion efficiency—almost 20-fold enhancement over the state-of-the-art—by accessing its largest$χ<#comment/>(2)$tensor component$d33$via quasi-phase matching. The corresponding single-photon coupling rate$g/2π<#comment/>$is estimated to be 1.2 MHz, which is an important milestone as it approaches the dissipation rate$κ<#comment/>/2π<#comment/>$of best-available lithium niobate microresonators developed in the community. Using a figure of merit defined as$g/κ<#comment/>$, our device reaches a single-photon nonlinear anharmonicity approaching 1%. We show that, by further scaling of the device, it is possible to improve the single-photon anharmonicity to a regime where photon blockade effect can be manifested.
4. We report on spectroscopic measurements on the$4f76s28S7/2∘<#comment/>→<#comment/>4f7(8S∘<#comment/>)6s6p(1P∘<#comment/>)8P9/2$transition in neutral europium-151 and europium-153 at 459.4 nm. The center of gravity frequencies for the 151 and 153 isotopes, reported for the first time in this paper, to our knowledge, were found to be 652,389,757.16(34) MHz and 652,386,593.2(5) MHz, respectively. The hyperfine coefficients for the$6s6p(1P∘<#comment/>)8P9/2$state were found to be$A(151)=−<#comment/>228.84(2)MHz$,$B(151)=226.9(5)MHz$and$A(153)=−<#comment/>101.87(6)MHz$,$B(153)=575.4(1.5)MHz$, which all agree with previously published results except for A(153), which shows a small discrepancy. The isotope shift is found to be 3163.8(6) MHz, which also has a discrepancy with previously published results.
5. In this Letter, we present a high extinction ratio and compact on-chip polarization beam splitter (PBS), based on an extreme skin-depth (eskid) waveguide. Subwavelength-scale gratings form an effectively anisotropic metamaterial cladding and introduce a large birefringence. The anisotropic dielectric perturbation of the metamaterial cladding suppresses the TE polarization extinction via exceptional coupling, while the large birefringence efficiently cross-couples the TM mode, thus reducing the coupling length. We demonstrated the eskid-PBS on a silicon-on-insulator platform and achieved an ultra-high extinction ratio PBS ($≈<#comment/>60dB$for TE and$≈<#comment/>48dB$for TM) with a compact coupling length ($≈<#comment/>14.5µ<#comment/>m$). The insertion loss is also negligible ($<<#comment/>0.6dB$). The bandwidth is$><#comment/>80$(30) nm for the TE (TM) extinction ratio$><#comment/>20dB$. Our ultra-high extinction ratio PBS is crucial in implementing efficient polarization diversity circuits, especially where a high degree of polarization distinguishability is necessary, such as photonic quantum information processing.