Giant Nonlinearity Research Articles

Giant nonlinear interaction between two optical beams via a quantum dot embedded in a photonic wire

Optical non-linearities usually appear for large intensities, but discrete transitions allow for giant non-linearities operating at the single photon level. This has been demonstrated in the last decade for a single optical mode with cold atomic gases, or single two-level systems coupled to light via a tailored photonic environment. Here we demonstrate a two-modes giant non-linearity by using a three-level structure in a single semiconductor quantum dot (QD) embedded in a photonic wire antenna. The large coupling efficiency and the broad operation bandwidth of the photonic wire enable us to have two different laser beams interacting with the QD in order to control the reflectivity of a laser beam with the other one using as few as 10 photons per QD lifetime. We discuss the possibilities offered by this easily integrable system for ultra-low power logical gates and optical quantum gates.

Manipulating multi-frequency light in a five-level cascade-type atomic medium associated with giant self-Kerr nonlinearity

We propose a model to manipulate group velocity of a multi-frequency probe light in an electromagnetically induced transparency medium consisting of five-level cascade-type atoms associated with a giant self-Kerr nonlinearity. An analytic expression of group index for the probe light is derived as a function of parameters of the probe and coupling fields, atomic density, and lifetimes of excited atomic states. In the presence of the self-Kerr, both probe and controlling fields can be used as knobs to manipulate the probe light between the subluminal and superluminal propagation modes in three separated frequency regions. The theoretical model agrees with experimental observation, and it is helpful to find the optimized parameters and related applications. Furthermore, by using such a cascade excitation scheme, it could be possible to choose the uppermost excited electronic states having long lifetimes, as Rydberg states, to slow the light down to a few mm/s.

Monoatomic optical diode based on direction-dependent bistability in the Purcell regime

Until now, single-atom bistability has been widely discussed in strong coupling regime. Here we focus on the scattering property of single atom-cavity coupling system in the Purcell regime, in which optical bistability was not predicted due to adiabatic treatment. In our previous works, we have shown concisely that optical bistability exists in part of the Purcell regime due to the presence of giant single-atom saturation nonlinearity, and the properties of bistable regime rely on the incident direction of input light within asymmetric cavity. Such direction-dependent bistability and its potential application as an efficient optical diode are discussed elaborately in this work. After comprehensive analysis, the thresholds of parameters to discriminate bistable regime from non-bistable regime are presented in detail. The limitation of adiabatic treatment which was widely adopted in the Purcell regime is also surveyed, which shows that only when the selected parameters are far from the bistable regime can the evolution of the cavity field be treated adiabatically. Direction-dependent bistability make it feasible to construct such monoatomic optical diode with high transmission contrast.

Single Stack Active Region Nonlinear Quantum Cascade Lasers for Improved THz Emission

We present a single stack active region design for terahertz emission by difference frequency generation in quantum cascade lasers. The active region contains a single design, which is based on multiple optical transitions within one period. This results in both a giant nonlinearity and an ultra-broad optical gain. The provided optical gain spectrum is broad enough to support two distinct mid-infrared modes with a significant spectral separation. For dual-emission, the waveguide contains a buried, index-coupled distributed feedback grating. This grating is based on a sampled approach to provide selective feedback for two mid-infrared modes at λ1=8.39 μ m and $\lambda _{{\text{2 }}}= {\text{9.38}}\, \mu {\text{m}}$ . Simultaneously, the manifold of possible transitions within the active region is designed to provide a peak nonlinear susceptibility of $\vert \chi ^{(2)}{\rm{\vert \, \,= \,\,}} {\text{29 nm}} {\text{V}}^{- 1}$ at the conversion to 3.8 THz. The device emits up to 210- μ W THz power at room temperature with a nonlinear conversion efficiency of $\eta ={\text{ 2.05 mW}} {\text{W}}^{- 2}$ .

Giant third-order nonlinearity from low-loss electrochemical graphene oxide film with a high power stability

Giant third-order nonlinear absorption and refraction of electrochemical graphene oxide (EGO) film were investigated in the femtosecond regime using the single beam Z-scan technique. The excellent chemical stability of the EGO film under high-power illumination up to 400 mJ/cm2 is demonstrated, which can be attributed to the low oxidation degree revealed by the optical and Raman spectroscopies. High and broadband linear transmission over 70% has been observed from the visible to the infrared range. The low-loss EGO film with giant third-order nonlinearity, excellent chemical stability, large-scale preparation and flexible integration has a great potential for high-power nonlinear optical applications.

Coupling single emitters to quantum plasmonic circuits

AbstractIn recent years, the controlled coupling of single-photon emitters to propagating surface plasmons has been intensely studied, which is fueled by the prospect of a giant photonic nonlinearity on a nanoscaled platform. In this article, we will review the recent progress on coupling single emitters to nanowires towards the construction of a new platform for strong light-matter interaction. The control over such a platform might open new doors for quantum information processing and quantum sensing at the nanoscale and for the study of fundamental physics in the ultrastrong coupling regime.

Double-dark-resonance-enhanced Kerr nonlinearity in a single layer of graphene nanostructure

In this paper, a novel scheme is proposed for the giant enhanced Kerr nonlinearity in a single layer of graphene nanostructure based on quantum optics and nonlinear optical sciences. The linear and the nonlinear susceptibility of the monolayer graphene system are presented in details by using the density matrix method and perturbation theory. After deriving the equations of motion in the steady-state regime, we analytically solve the linear and nonlinear susceptibility of the system. Our numerical results show that the giant enhanced Kerr nonlinearity can be obtained in the double-dark-resonance condition with zero linear and nonlinear absorption. Our results may have potential applications in quantum information science in infrared and terahertz regimes.

Generating giant and tunable nonlinearity in a macroscopic mechanical resonator from a single chemical bond.

Nonlinearity in macroscopic mechanical systems may lead to abundant phenomena for fundamental studies and potential applications. However, it is difficult to generate nonlinearity due to the fact that macroscopic mechanical systems follow Hooke's law and respond linearly to external force, unless strong drive is used. Here we propose and experimentally realize high cubic nonlinear response in a macroscopic mechanical system by exploring the anharmonicity in chemical bonding interactions. We demonstrate the high tunability of nonlinear response by precisely controlling the chemical bonding interaction, and realize, at the single-bond limit, a cubic elastic constant of 1 × 1020 N m−3. This enables us to observe the resonator's vibrational bi-states transitions driven by the weak Brownian thermal noise at 6 K. This method can be flexibly applied to a variety of mechanical systems to improve nonlinear responses, and can be used, with further improvements, to explore macroscopic quantum mechanics.

Vortex-based all-optical manipulation of stored light at low light levels.

We exploit the giant cross-Kerr nonlinearity of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) system in ultracold atoms to implement vortex-based multimode manipulation of stored light at low light levels. Using image-bearing signal light fields with angular intensity profiles, sinusoidal grating structures with phase-only modulation can be azimuthally imprinted on the stored probe light field, where the nonlinear absorption loss can be ignored. Upon retrieval of the probe light, collinearly superimposed vortex modes can be generated in the far field. Considering the finite size of atomic gas, the Fraunhofer diffraction patterns of the retrieved probe fields and their spiral spectra are numerically investigated, where the diffracted vortex modes can be efficiently controlled by tuning the weak signal fields. Our studies not only exhibit a fundamental diffraction phenomenon with angular grating structures in EIT system, but also provide a fascinating opportunity to realize multidimensional quantum information processing for stored light in an all-optical manner.

Single-photon non-linear optics with a quantum dot in a waveguide.

Strong non-linear interactions between photons enable logic operations for both classical and quantum-information technology. Unfortunately, non-linear interactions are usually feeble and therefore all-optical logic gates tend to be inefficient. A quantum emitter deterministically coupled to a propagating mode fundamentally changes the situation, since each photon inevitably interacts with the emitter, and highly correlated many-photon states may be created. Here we show that a single quantum dot in a photonic-crystal waveguide can be used as a giant non-linearity sensitive at the single-photon level. The non-linear response is revealed from the intensity and quantum statistics of the scattered photons, and contains contributions from an entangled photon–photon bound state. The quantum non-linearity will find immediate applications for deterministic Bell-state measurements and single-photon transistors and paves the way to scalable waveguide-based photonic quantum-computing architectures.

Giant nonlinearity via breaking parity-time symmetry: A route to low-threshold phonon diodes

Nonreciprocal devices that permit wave transmission in only one direction are indispensible in many fields of science including, e.g., electronics, optics, acoustics, and thermodynamics. Manipulating phonons using such nonreciprocal devices may have a range of applications such as phonon diodes, transistors, switches, etc. One way of achieving nonreciprocal phononic devices is to use materials with strong nonlinear response to phonons. However, it is not easy to obtain the required strong mechanical nonlinearity, especially for few-phonon situations. Here, we present a general mechanism to amplify nonlinearity using $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric structures, and show that an on-chip micro-scale phonon diode can be fabricated using a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric mechanical system, in which a lossy mechanical-resonator with very weak mechanical nonlinearity is coupled to a mechanical resonator with mechanical gain but no mechanical nonlinearity. When this coupled system transits from the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric regime to the broken-$\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric regime, the mechanical nonlinearity is transferred from the lossy resonator to the one with gain, and the effective nonlinearity of the system is significantly enhanced. This enhanced mechanical nonlinearity is almost lossless because of the gain-loss balance induced by the $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric structure. Such an enhanced lossless mechanical nonlinearity is then used to control the direction of phonon propagation, and can greatly decrease (by over three orders of magnitude) the threshold of the input-field intensity necessary to observe the unidirectional phonon transport. We propose an experimentally realizable lossless low-threshold phonon diode of this type. Our study opens up new perspectives for constructing on-chip few-phonon devices and hybrid phonon-photon components.

Giant Kerr nonlinearity and superluminal and subluminal polaritonic solitons in a Bose-Einstein condensate via superradiant scattering

We propose a setup to generate giant Kerr nonlinearity and polaritonic solitons via matter-wave superradiant scattering. The system we consider is a long cigar-shaped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), pumped by a red-detuned laser field with a space-dependent intensity distribution in transverse directions. The pump and the scattered fields propagate along the longitudinal direction. We show that by means of the atom-photon and atom-atom interactions in the system it is possible to produce a giant nonlinear optical effect. We further show that a backward scattering of the laser field from the BEC is favorable for the formation and stable propagation of polaritonic solitons, which are collective nonlinear excitations of the BEC coupled with the scattered laser field. In the case of backward Stokes (anti-Stokes) scattering the system may support robust bright (dark) polaritonic solitons propagating with superluminal (subluminal) velocity.

Enhanced parametric frequency conversion in a compact silicon-graphene microring resonator.

We demonstrate four-wave mixing (FWM) in a 10-μm-radius silicon microring resonator with the assistance of giant nonlinearity of the monolayer graphene. A maximum enhancement of 6.8 dB of conversion efficiency in the silicon-graphene microring (SGM) resonator is observed. A nonlinear propagation model is established and the optical Kerr coefficient of the silicon-graphene hybrid waveguide is three times larger than that of the silicon waveguide.

Direct Observation of Degenerate Two-Photon Absorption and Its Saturation in WS2 and MoS2 Monolayer and Few-Layer Films.

The optical nonlinearity of WS2 and MoS2 monolayer and few-layer films was investigated using the Z-scan technique with femtosecond pulses from the visible to the near-infrared range. The nonlinear absorption of few- and multilayer WS2 and MoS2 films and their dependences on excitation wavelength were studied. WS2 films with 1-3 layers exhibited a giant two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficient as high as (1.0 ± 0.8) × 10(4) cm/GW. TPA saturation was observed for the WS2 film with 1-3 layers and for the MoS2 film with 25-27 layers. The giant nonlinearity of WS2 and MoS2 films is attributed to a two-dimensional confinement, a giant exciton effect, and the band edge resonance of TPA.

Investigation of Terahertz Generation from Bulk and Periodically Poled LiTaO3Crystal with a Cherenkov Phase Matching Scheme

Terahertz (THz) wave generation from bulk and periodically poled $LiTaO_3$ (PPLT) with a Cherenkov phase matching scheme is numerically investigated. It is shown that by using the crystal birefringence of bulk $LiTaO_3$ and a grating vector of PPLT, THz waves can be efficiently generated by difference frequency generation (DFG) with a Cherenkov phase matching scheme. The frequency tuning characteristics of the THz wave via varying wavelength of difference frequency waves, phase matching angle, poling period of PPLT and working temperature are theoretically analyzed. The parametric gain coefficient in the low-loss limit and the absorption coefficient of the THz wave during the DFG process in the vicinity of polariton resonances are numerically analyzed. A THz wave can be efficiently generated by utilizing the giant second order nonlinearities of $LiTaO_3$ in the vicinity of polariton resonances.

Giant parabolic nonlinearities at infrared in [formula omitted]-type three level multiple quantum wells

Higher order nonlinear susceptibilities have been investigated in a three level asymmetric multiple quantum well nanostructure wherein a probe pulse and a control laser beam are interacting in Λ-type configuration in the regime of electromagnetically induced transparency. We have identified the existence of giant fifth order susceptibility as large as ∼10−24m4/V4 at a pump wavelength 5.128μm. By changing the value of the Rabi frequency or the pump detuning the peak value of the susceptibility can be obtained at different pump frequency. With the introduction of detuning of the control field, the antisymmetric property of the fifth order susceptibility disappears. The group velocity of the probe field is reported to be slowed down by three order of magnitude in comparison to that of the speed of light in vacuum. These results may have potential applications in optoelectronic devices.

Interfacing single photons and single quantum dots with photonic nanostructures

Photonic nanostructures provide means of tailoring the interaction between light and matter and the past decade has witnessed a tremendous experimental and theoretical progress in this subject. In particular, the combination with semiconductor quantum dots has proven successful. This manuscript reviews quantum optics with excitons in single quantum dots embedded in photonic nanostructures. The ability to engineer the light-matter interaction strength in integrated photonic nanostructures enables a range of fundamental quantum-electrodynamics experiments on, e.g., spontaneous-emission control, modified Lamb shifts, and enhanced dipole-dipole interaction. Furthermore, highly efficient single-photon sources and giant photon nonlinearities may be implemented with immediate applications for photonic quantum-information processing. The review summarizes the general theoretical framework of photon emission including the role of dephasing processes, and applies it to photonic nanostructures of current interest, such as photonic-crystal cavities and waveguides, dielectric nanowires, and plasmonic waveguides. The introduced concepts are generally applicable in quantum nanophotonics and apply to a large extent also to other quantum emitters, such as molecules, nitrogen vacancy ceters, or atoms. Finally, the progress and future prospects of applications in quantum-information processing are considered.

Giant fifth-order nonlinearity via tunneling induced quantum interference in triple quantum dots

Schemes for giant fifth-order nonlinearity via tunneling in both linear and triangular triple quantum dots are proposed. In both configurations, the real part of the fifth-order nonlinearity can be greatly enhanced, and simultaneously the absorption is suppressed. The analytical expression and the dressed states of the system show that the two tunnelings between the neighboring quantum dots can induce quantum interference, resulting in the giant higher-order nonlinearity. The scheme proposed here may have important applications in quantum information processing at low light level.

Waveguide engineering of graphene's nonlinearity

Graphene has recently been shown to possess giant nonlinearity; however, the utility of this nonlinearity is limited due to high losses and small interaction volume. We show that by performing waveguide engineering to graphene's nonlinearity, we are able to dramatically increase the nonlinear parameter and decrease the switching optical power to sub-watt levels. Our design makes use of the hybrid plasmonic waveguide and careful manipulation of graphene's refractive index by tuning its Fermi level. The ability to tailor the nonlinear parameter in graphene based waveguides via the Fermi level provides a paradigm of nonlinear optics devices to be realized.

Near-unity coupling efficiency of a quantum emitter to a photonic crystal waveguide.

A quantum emitter efficiently coupled to a nanophotonic waveguide constitutes a promising system for the realization of single-photon transistors, quantum-logic gates based on giant single-photon nonlinearities, and high bit-rate deterministic single-photon sources. The key figure of merit for such devices is the β factor, which is the probability for an emitted single photon to be channeled into a desired waveguide mode. We report on the experimental achievement of β=98.43%±0.04% for a quantum dot coupled to a photonic crystal waveguide, corresponding to a single-emitter cooperativity of η=62.7±1.5. This constitutes a nearly ideal photon-matter interface where the quantum dot acts effectively as a 1D "artificial" atom, since it interacts almost exclusively with just a single propagating optical mode. The β factor is found to be remarkably robust to variations in position and emission wavelength of the quantum dots. Our work demonstrates the extraordinary potential of photonic crystal waveguides for highly efficient single-photon generation and on-chip photon-photon interaction.