Joint Spectral Intensity Research Articles

Engineering the spectra of photon triplets generated from micro/nanofiber

Quantum light sources are the core resources for photonics-based quantum information processing. We investigate the spectral engineering of photon triplets generated by third-order spontaneous parametric down-conversion in micro/nanofiber. The phase mismatching at one–third pump frequency gives rise to non-degenerate photon triplets, the joint spectral intensity of which has an elliptical locus with a fixed eccentricity of 6/3 . Therefore, we propose a frequency-division scheme to separate non-degenerate photon triplets into three channels with high heralding efficiency for the first time. Choosing an appropriate pump wavelength can compensate for the fabrication errors of micro/nanofiber and also generate narrowband, non-degenerate photon triplet sources with a high signal-to-noise ratio. Furthermore, the long-period micro/nanofiber grating introduces a new controllable degree of freedom to tailor phase matching, resulting from the periodic oscillation of dispersion. In this scheme, the wavelength of photon triplets can be flexibly tuned using quasi-phase matching. We study the generation of photon triplets from this novel perspective of spectrum engineering, and we believe that this work will accelerate the practical implementation of photon triplets in quantum information processing.

Correlated-photon-pair generation via SFWM in tapered optical fibers with femtosecond laser pump

Spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in optical micro-/nanofibers is studied theoretically and experimentally. Joint spectral intensity of the biphoton field generated via SFWM under excitation of femtosecond laser pulses is measured and calculated considering self-phase modulation of the pump pulses and SFWM throughout the tapered fibers. In comparison with the previous study (Shukhin et al 2020 Phys. Rev. A 101 053822), replacing picosecond pump by a femtosecond one with the same average power makes it possible to increase the photon pair generation rate tenfold.

Do different kinds of photon-pair sources have the same indistinguishability in quantum silicon photonics?

In the same silicon photonic integrated circuit, we compare two types of integrated degenerate photon-pair sources (microring resonators and waveguides) using Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) interference experiments. Two nominally identical microring resonators are coupled to two nominally identical waveguides, which form the arms of a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. This is pumped by two lasers at two different wavelengths to generate, by spontaneous four-wave mixing, degenerate photon pairs. In particular, the microring resonators can be thermally tuned in or out of resonance with the pump wavelengths, thus choosing either the microring resonators or the waveguides as photon-pair sources, respectively. In this way, an on-chip HOM visibility of 94% with microring resonators and 99% with straight waveguides is measured upon filtering. We compare our experimental results with theoretical simulations of the joint spectral intensity and the purity of the degenerate photon pairs. We verify that the visibility is connected to the sources’ indistinguishability, which can be quantified by the overlap between the joint spectral amplitudes (JSA) of the photon pairs generated by the two sources. We estimate a JSA overlap of 98% with waveguides and 89% with microring resonators.

Hyper-entanglement between pulse modes and frequency bins.

Hyper-entanglement between two or more photonic degrees of freedom (DOF) can enhance and enable new quantum protocols by allowing each DOF to perform the task it is optimally suited for. Here we demonstrate the generation of photon pairs hyper-entangled between pulse modes and frequency bins. The pulse modes are generated via parametric downconversion in a domain-engineered crystal and subsequently entangled to two frequency bins via a spectral mapping technique. The resulting hyper-entangled state is characterized and verified via measurement of its joint spectral intensity and non-classical two-photon interference patterns from which we infer its spectral phase. The protocol combines the robustness to loss, intrinsic high dimensionality and compatibility with standard fiber-optic networks of the energy-time DOF with the ability of hyper-entanglement to increase the capacity and efficiency of the quantum channel, already exploited in recent experimental applications in both quantum information and quantum computation.

Spectrally resolved two-photon interference in a modified Hong–Ou–Mandel interferometer

A modified Hong–Ou–Mandel (HOM) interference reveals that the two-photon interference phenomenon can be explained only by the concept of a two-photon wave packet rather than a single-photon one. However, the temporal interferogram in the modified HOM interferometer becomes flat in some cases so that no useful information can be extracted from time-domain measurement. Here, we theoretically explore such temporal interferogram from the frequency domain and obtain the spectrally resolved interference with high visibility. The result represents a modulation of the joint spectral intensity along both the frequency sum and the frequency difference directions. This is quite different from the cases of the spectrally resolved HOM interference and N00N state interference where the modulations happened only in one direction. Moreover, we have shown that such modulations have a potential application in the generation and characterization of high-dimensional frequency entanglement.

Quantum Wiener-Khinchin Theorem for Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography

The Wiener-Khinchin theorem, the fact that the autocorrelation function of a time process has a spectral decomposition given by its power-spectrum intensity, can be used in many disciplines. However, the applications based on a quantum counterpart of the Wiener-Khinchin theorem that provides a translation between time-energy degrees of freedom of biphoton wave function still remains relatively unexplored. Here, we use a quantum Wiener-Khinchin theorem (QWKT) to state that two-photon joint spectral intensity and the cross-correlation of two-photon temporal signal can be connected by making a Fourier transform. The mathematically defined QWKT is experimentally demonstrated in frequency-entangled two-photon Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference with the assistance of spectrally resolved detection. We apply this method to spectral-domain quantum optical coherence tomography that detects thickness-induced optical delays in a transparent sample, and show that our method suffices to achieve great advantages in measurement precision within a wide dynamic range and capturing time over the conventional HOM interferometric schemes. These results may significantly facilitate the use of QWKT for quantum information processing and quantum interferometric spectroscopy.

Massive-mode polarization entangled biphoton frequency comb

A frequency-multiplexed entangled photon pair and a high-dimensional hyperentangled photon pair are useful to realize a high-capacity quantum communication. A biphoton frequency comb (BFC) with entanglement can be used to prepare both states. We demonstrate polarization entangled BFCs with over 1400 frequency modes, which is approximately two orders of magnitude larger than those of earlier entangled BFCs, by placing a singly resonant periodically poled LiNbO3 waveguide resonator within a Sagnac loop. The BFCs are demonstrated by measuring the joint spectral intensity, cross-correlation, and autocorrelation. Moreover, the polarization entanglement at representative groups of frequency modes is verified by quantum state tomography, where each fidelity is over 0.7. The efficient generation of a massive-mode entangled BFC is expected to accelerate the increase of capacity in quantum communication.

Spectrally separable photon-pair generation in dispersion engineered thin-film lithium niobate.

Existing nonlinear-optic implementations of pure, unfiltered heralded single-photon sources do not offer the scalability required for densely integrated quantum networks. Additionally, lithium niobate has hitherto been unsuitable for such use due to its material dispersion. We engineer the dispersion and the quasi-phasematching conditions of a waveguide in the rapidly emerging thin-film lithium niobate platform to generate spectrally separable photon pairs in the telecommunications band. Such photon pairs can be used as spectrally pure heralded single-photon sources in quantum networks. We estimate a heralded-state spectral purity of >94% based on joint spectral intensity measurements. Further, a joint spectral phase-sensitive measurement of the unheralded time-integrated second-order correlation function yields a heralded-state purity of (86±5)%.

Spectrally multiplexed indistinguishable single-photon generation at telecom-band

Heralded single-photon source (HSPS) intrinsically suffers from the trade-off between the heralded single-photon rate and the single-photon purity. To break through this trade-off, one can apply multiplexing technology in different degrees of freedom that significantly improves the performance of the HSPS. Here, we propose a 1.5 μm chip-scale HSPS on lithium niobate on insulator by employing spectral multiplexing and active feed-forward spectral manipulating, and we demonstrate a proof-of-principle experiment with discrete fiber-based components. With continuous-wave laser pumping and three spectral modes multiplexed, our experimental results show that the spectral multiplexing improves the heralded single-photon rate by near threefold while keeping the g ( 2 ) ( 0 ) as low as 0.0006 ± 0.0001 at a measured single-photon rate of 3.1 kHz. By measuring the joint spectral intensity, we show that the spectral multiplexing and feed-forward control effectively erase the frequency correlation of photon pairs. Moreover, we implement the Hong–Ou–Mandel interference between the spectrally multiplexed single photons and photons from an independent weak coherence source, which indicates that the multiplexed single photons are highly indistinguishable after the spectral manipulation. Our results pave a way for on-chip scalable and high-performance HSPS with spectral multiplexing toward deterministic single-photon emission.

Improving the spectral purity of single photons by a single-interferometer-coupled microring

We experimentally engineer a high-spectral-purity single-photon source using a single-interferometer-coupled silicon microring. By the reconfiguration of the interferometer, different coupling conditions can be obtained, corresponding to different quality factors for the pump and signal/idler. The ratio between the quality factor of the pump and signal/idler ranges from 0.29 to 2.57. By constructing the signal–idler joint spectral intensity, we intuitively demonstrate the spectral correlation of the signal and idler. As the ratio between the quality factor of the pump and signal/idler increases, the spectral correlation of the signal and idler decreases, i.e., the spectral purity of the signal/idler photons increases. Furthermore, time-integrated second-order correlation of the signal photons is measured, giving a value up to 94.95 ± 3.46%. Such high-spectral-purity photons will improve the visibility of quantum interference and facilitate the development of on-chip quantum information processing.

Widely tunable single-photon source with high spectral-purity from telecom wavelength to mid-infrared wavelength based on MgO:PPLN* *Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2017YFA0303700 and 2019YFA0308700) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11627810 and 11690031).

By utilizing the extended phase-matching (EPM) method, we investigate the generation of single photons with high spectral-purity in a magnesium-doped periodically-poled lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN) crystal via the spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) process. By adjusting the temperature and pump wavelength, the wavelength of the single photons can be tuned from telecom to mid-infrared (MIR) wavelengths, for which the spectral-purity can be above 0.95 with high transmission filters. In experiments, we engineer a MgO:PPLN with poling period of 20.35 μm which emits the EPM photon pair centered at 1496.6 nm and 1644.0 nm and carry out the joint spectral intensity (JSI) and Glauber’s second-order self-correlation measurements to characterize the spectral purity. The results are in good agreement with the numerical simulations. Our work may provide a valuable approach for the generation of spectrally pure single photons at a wide range of wavelengths which is competent for various photonic quantum technologies.

Observation of frequency-uncorrelated photon pairs generated by counter-propagating spontaneous parametric down-conversion

We report the generation of frequency-uncorrelated photon pairs from counter-propagating spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a periodically-poled KTP waveguide. The joint spectral intensity of photon pairs is characterized by measuring the corresponding stimulated process, namely, the difference frequency generation process. The experimental result shows a clear uncorrelated joint spectrum, where the backward-propagating photon has a narrow bandwidth of 7.46 GHz and the forward-propagating one has a bandwidth of 0.23 THz like the pump light. The heralded single-photon purity estimated through Schmidt decomposition is as high as 0.996, showing a perspective for ultra-purity and narrow-band single-photon generation. Such unique feature results from the backward-wave quasi-phase-matching condition and does not has a strict limitation on the material and working wavelength, thus fascinating its application in photonic quantum technologies.

Studying joint spectral intensity of spontaneous four-wave mixing in optical nanofibers

Joint spectral intensity of the biphoton field generated via spontaneous four-wave mixing in an optical nanofiber was studied both experimentally and theoretically. The measured two-photon frequency distribution agrees well with the theoretically expected one that is calculated taking into account the spatially inhomogeneous profile of the taper. It is shown that measuring joint spectral intensity of the biphoton field makes it possible to determine the nanofiber radius with high accuracy.

Tunability of the Nonlinear Interferometer Method for Anchoring Constructive Interference Patterns on the ITU-T Grid

Recently, a method of engineering the quantum states with a nonlinear interferometer was proposed to achieve precise state engineering for near-ideal single-mode operation and near-unity efficiency (L. Cui et al., Phys. Rev. A 102, 033718 (2020)), and the high-purity bi-photon states can be created without degrading brightness and collection efficiency. Here, we study the coarse or fine tunability of the nonlinear interference method to match constructive interference patterns into a transmission window of standard 100-GHz DWDM channels. The joint spectral intensity spectrum is measured for various conditions of the nonlinear interference effects. We show that the method has coarse- and fine-tuning ability while maintaining its high spectral purity. We expect that our results expand the usefulness of the nonlinear interference method. The photon-pair generation engineered via this method will be an excellent practical source of the quantum information process.

Frequency correlated photon generation at telecom band using silicon nitride ring cavities.

Frequency entangled photon sources are in high demand in a variety of optical quantum technologies, including quantum key distribution, cluster state quantum computation and quantum metrology. In the recent decade, chip-scale entangled photon sources have been developed using silicon platforms, offering robustness, large scalability and CMOS technology compatibility. Here, we report the generation of frequency correlated photon pairs using a 150-GHz silicon nitride ring cavity. First, the device is characterized for studying the phase matching condition during spontaneous four-wave mixing. Next, we evaluate the joint spectrum intensity of the generated photons and confirm the photon pair generation in a total of 42 correlated frequency mode pairs, corresponding to a bandwidth of 51.25 nm. Finally, the experimental results are analyzed and the joint spectral intensity is quantified in terms of the phase matching condition.

Diagnosing phase correlations in the joint spectrum of parametric downconversion using multi-photon emission

The development of new quantum light sources requires robust and convenient methods of characterizing their joint spectral properties. Measuring the joint spectral intensity between a photon pair ignores any correlations in spectral phase which may be responsible for degrading the quality of quantum interference. A fully phase-sensitive characterization tends to require significantly more experimental complexity. Here, we investigate the sensitivity of the frequency-resolved double-pair emission to spectral phase correlations, in particular to the presence of a simple form of correlated phase which can be generated by a chirped pump laser pulse. We observe interference fringes in the four photon coincidences which depend on the frequencies of all four photons, with a period which depends on the strength of their correlation. We also show that phase correlations in the JSA induce spectral intensity correlations between two signal photons, even when the corresponding idler photons are not detected, and link this correlation pattern to the purity of a single signal photon. These effects will be useful in assessing new photon-pair sources for quantum technologies, especially since we require little additional complexity compared to a joint spectral intensity measurement - essentially just the ability to detect at least two photons in each output port.

Broadband generation of photon-pairs from a CMOS compatible device

Frequency entangled photons have potential for various quantum applications. Recently, on-chip photon-pair sources made by CMOS compatible processes have attracted attention. In this paper, we report broadband generation of photon-pairs via a spontaneous four-wave mixing process using a CMOS compatible ring resonator. We performed frequency-correlation between the signal and idler photons by frequency-resolved coincidence detection and confirmed that the signal and idler photons are correlated over 59 frequency modes, a bandwidth of 23.6 nm, which are the largest numbers achieved to date. Furthermore, we reproduced the experimentally observed joint spectral intensity from the obtained transmission spectrum of the resonator involving the information of the dispersion of the device.

Heralded single-photon and correlated-photon-pair generation via spontaneous four-wave mixing in tapered optical fibers

We study the generation of correlated photon pairs and heralded single photons via strongly non-degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in a series of identical micro-/nano fibers (MNF). Joint spectral intensity of the biphoton field generated at the wavelength of about 880 nm and 1310 nm has been measured under excitation by 100 ps laser pulses demonstrating good agreement with the theoretical prediction. The measured zero-time second-order autocorrelation function was about 0.2 when the emission rate of the heralded photons was of 4 Hz. The MNF-based source perfectly matches standard single-mode fibers, which makes it compatible with the existing fiber communication networks. In addition, SFWM observation in a series of identical MNFs allows increasing generation rate of single photons via spatial multiplexing.

Joint spectral intensity of entangled photon pairs from a warm atomic ensemble via stimulated emission beat interferometry.

Photonic quantum states generated from atomic systems play prominent roles in long-distance quantum networks and scalable quantum communication, because entangled photon pairs from atomic ensembles possess a universal identity and narrow spectral bandwidth for quantum repeaters. In this study, we propose and demonstrate a novel, to the best of our knowledge, method for the joint spectral intensity measurement of narrowband continuous wave (CW)-mode photon pairs from a warm atomic ensemble using stimulated emission and beat interferometry for the first time. Our approach offers the advantage of sub-megahertz resolution, absolute optical frequency measurements with megahertz-level accuracy, fast collection time, and high signal-to-noise ratio; thus, our method can find important applications in the characterization of narrowband photon pairs generated from sources including atoms and artificially structured material.

Direct temporal mode measurement of photon pairs by stimulated emission

It is known that photon pairs generated from pulse-pumped spontaneous parametric processes can be described by independent temporal modes and form a multi-temporal mode entangled state. However, the exact form of the temporal modes is not known even though the joint spectral intensity of photon pairs can be measured by the method of stimulated emission tomography. In this paper, we describe a feedback-iteration method which, combined with the stimulated emission method, can give rise to the exact forms of the independent temporal modes for the temporally entangled photon pairs.