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1. Nonlocal subpicosecond delay metrology using spectral quantum interference

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.458565  

   Seshadri, Suparna; Lingaraju, Navin; Lu, Hsuan-Hao; Imany, Poolad; Leaird, Daniel_E; Weiner, Andrew_M (November 2022, Optica)

   Precise knowledge of position and timing information is critical to support elementary protocols such as entanglement swapping on quantum networks. While approaches have been devised to use quantum light for such metrology, they largely rely on time-of-flight (ToF) measurements with single-photon detectors and, therefore, are limited to picosecond-scale resolution owing to detector jitter. In this work, we demonstrate an approach to distributed sensing that leverages phase modulation to map changes in the spectral phase to coincidence probability, thereby overcoming the limits imposed by single-photon detection. By extracting information about the joint biphoton phase, we measure a generalized delay—the difference in signal–idler arrival, relative to local radio frequency (RF) phase modulation. For nonlocal ranging measurements, we achieve ( $2\mathrm{\sigma <\#comment/>}$) precision of $\pm <\#comment/>0.04\mathrm{p}\mathrm{s}$and for measurements of the relative RF phase, ( $2\mathrm{\sigma <\#comment/>}$) precision of $\pm <\#comment/>{0.7}^{\circ <\#comment/>}$. We complement this fine timing information with ToF data from single-photon time-tagging to demonstrate absolute measurement of time delay. By relying on off-the-shelf telecommunications equipment and standard quantum resources, this approach has the potential to reduce overhead in practical quantum networks. 

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2. Single-shot ultrafast visualization and measurement of laser–matter interactions in flexible glass using frequency domain holography

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.382645  

   Dempsey, Dennis; Nagar, Garima_C; Renskers, Christopher_K; Grynko, Rostislav_I; Sutherland, James_S; Shim, Bonggu (February 2020, Optics Letters)

   We perform single-shot frequency domain holography to measure the ultrafast spatio-temporal phase change induced by the optical Kerr effect and plasma in flexible Corning Willow Glass during femtosecond laser–matter interactions. We measure the nonlinear index of refraction ( $n_2$) to be $(3.6\pm <\#comment/>0.1)\times <\#comment/>{10}^{-<\#comment/>16}{\mathrm{c}\mathrm{m}}^2/\mathrm{W}$and visualize the plasma formation and recombination on femtosecond time scales in a single shot. To compare with the experiment, we carry out numerical simulations by solving the nonlinear envelope equation. 

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3. 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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4. Relative timing jitter in a counterpropagating all-normal dispersion dual-comb fiber laser

   https://doi.org/10.1364/OPTICA.458339  

   Prakash, Neeraj; Huang, Shu-Wei; Li, Bowen (June 2022, Optica)

   The counterpropagating all-normal dispersion (CANDi) fiber laser is an emerging high-energy single-cavity dual-comb laser source. Its relative timing jitter (RTJ), a critical parameter for dual-comb timing precision and spectral resolution, has not been comprehensively investigated. In this paper, we enhance the state-of-the-art CANDi fiber laser pulse energy from 1 nJ to 8 nJ. We then introduce a reference-free RTJ characterization technique that provides shot-to-shot measurement capability at femtosecond precision. The measurement noise floor reaches $1.6\times <\#comment/>{10}^{-<\#comment/>7}{\mathrm{f}\mathrm{s}}^2/\mathrm{H}\mathrm{z}$, and the corresponding integrated measurement precision is only 1.8 fs (1 kHz, 20 MHz). With this characterization tool, we are able to study the physical origin of the CANDi laser’s RTJ in detail. We first verify that the cavity length fluctuation does not contribute to the RTJ. Then we measure the integrated RTJ to be 39 fs (1 kHz, 20 MHz) and identify the pump relative intensity noise (RIN) to be the dominant factor responsible for it. In particular, pump RIN is coupled to the RTJ through the Gordon–Haus effect. Finally, solutions to reduce the free-running CANDi laser’s RTJ are discussed. This work provides a general guideline to improve the performance of compact single-cavity dual-comb systems such as the CANDi laser, benefitting various dual-comb applications. 

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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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