The requirement on the symmetry of the biphoton wave function results in a double peak structure of the coincidence spectra of Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion (SPDC) [1]. In this work we report the experimental observation of this effect by careful tailoring parameters of the SPDC crystal, the ultra-fast pump laser, and the measurement setup. The results are shown to be relevant to quantum state engineering of ultra-fast polarization-, or frequency-entangled mixed states.
Three-fold coincidence by stimulated parametric down-conversion
Nexus for Quantum Technologies, University of Ottawa（渥太华大学量子技术联盟）；Department of Physics, University of Naples Federico II（那不勒斯费德里科二世大学物理系）；Faculty of Engineering and Institute of Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials, Bar-Ilan University（巴伊兰大学工程学院与纳米技术及先进材料研究所）；Institute for Quantum Studies, Chapman University（查普曼大学量子研究学院）
Correlated Photon Pair Production by Spontaneous Parametric Down Conversion in Quasi-Phase-Matched AlGaAs superlattice Waveguides using a Continuous Wave Pump
We suggest the generation of photon pairs in a thermally induced nonlinear periodically-poled silica fiber by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Photons are generated directly in eigenstates of optical angular momentum. Photons in a pair can be entangled in these states as well as in frequencies. We identify suitable spatial and polarization modes giving an efficient nonlinear interaction. By changing the pump field properties both narrow- and broad-band down-converted fields can be obtained.
We provide a toolbox for continuous variables quantum state engineering and characterization of biphoton states produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion in a transverse pump configuration. We show that the control of the pump beam's incidence spot and angle corresponds to phase space displacements of conjugate collective continuous variables of the biphoton. In particular, we illustrate with numerical simulations on a semiconductor device how this technique can be used to engineer and characterize arbitrary states of the frequency and time degrees of freedom.
A non-perturbative theory of the spontaneous down conversion (SDC) of surface plasmon polaritons at a metal-dielectric interface is presented. It is shown that the process is resonantly enhanced for the characteristic power of excitation, typically of the order of tens of watts. At a stronger excitation the yield of SDC decreases rapidly. At a stronger excitation the yield of SDC decreases rapidly. The reason for this decrease is the high rate of the change of surface plasmon polaritons by the laser field, exceeding the rate of the zero-point fluctuations responsible for the SDC process. The o…
All-dielectric optical metasurfaces are a workhorse in nano-optics due to both their ability to manipulate light in different degrees of freedom and their excellent performance at light frequency conversion. Here, we demonstrate first-time generation of photon pairs via spontaneous parametric-down conversion in lithium niobate quantum optical metasurfaces with electric and magnetic Mie-like resonances at various wavelengths. By engineering the quantum optical metasurface, we tailor the photon-pair spectrum in a controlled way. Within a narrow bandwidth around the resonance, the rate of pair pr…
Quantum nonlinear interferometers (QNIs) can measure the infrared physical quantities of a sample by detecting visible photons. A QNI with Michelson geometry based on the spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a second-order nonlinear crystal is studied systematically. A simplified theoretical model of the QNI is presented. The interference visibility, coherence length, equal-inclination interference, and equal-thickness interference for the QNI are demonstrated theoretically and experimentally. As an application example of the QNI, the refractive index and the angle between two surfaces of…
The comet-tail-like interference patterns are observed using photons from the spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) process. The patterns are caused by the angular-spectrum-dependent interference and the diffraction of a blazed grating. We present the theoretical explanation and simulation results for these patterns, which are in good agreement with the experimental results. The most significant feature of the patterns is the bright parabolic contour profile, from which, one can deduce the parameter of the parabolic tuning curve of the SPDC process. This method could be helpful in desi…
Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion (SPDC), also known as parametric fluorescence, parametric noise, parametric scattering and all various combinations of the abbreviation SPDC, is a non-linear optical process where a photon spontaneously splits into two other photons of lower energies. One would think that this article is about particle physics and yet it is not, as this process can occur fairly easily on a day to day basis in an optics laboratory. Nowadays, SPDC is at the heart of many quantum optics experiments for applications in quantum cryptography, quantum simulation, quantum metrolo…
Recent years have seen the development of quantum sensing concepts utilizing nonlinear interferometers based on correlated photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). Using SPDC far from frequency degeneracy allows a 'division of labor' between the mid-infrared photon for strongest sample interaction and the correlated near-infrared photon for low-noise detection. The small number of photons provided by SPDC and the resulting inferior signal-to-noise ratio are, however, a limiting factor preventing wide applicability of the novel sensing concept. Here, we demonstra…
We analyze spontaneous parametric down-conversion in various experimentally feasible 1D quadratic nonlinear waveguide arrays, with emphasis on the relationship between the lattice's topological invariants and the biphoton correlations. Nontrivial topology results in a nontrivial "winding" of the array's Bloch waves, which introduces additional selection rules for the generation of biphotons. These selection rules are in addition to, and independent of existing control using the pump beam's spatial profile and phase matching conditions. In finite lattices, nontrivial topology produces single ph…
We investigate the transverse spatial profile of down-converted light produced by noncollinear, degenerate, Type-I spontaneous parametric down-conversion in two types of nonlinear crystals. We find that the pattern produced by one crystal, beta barium borate (BBO), produces a circular down-conversion pattern while the other crystal, bismuth triborate (BiBO) produces an elliptical pattern. We show this difference is due to the angle-independent refractive index experienced by the daughter photons in BBO, while they experience an angle-dependent refractive index in BiBO. We image the transverse …
Various quantum technology applications require high-purity single photons with high generation rate. Although different methods are employed to generate such photons, heralded single photons from spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is the most commonly used approach. Photon generation rate from the heralded single-photon sources are limited by the efficiency of the detectors to record coincidence detection of the photon pairs which are lower than the single-photon counts recorded separately on each detector. In this paper we present a revised expression to calculate second-order tem…
Miniaturised entangled photon sources are highly demanded for the development of integrated quantum photonics. Since the invention of subwavelength optical metasurfaces and their successes at replacing bulky optical components, the possibility of implementing entangled photon sources on such devices is actively investigated. Here, as a first step towards the development of quantum optical metasurfaces (QOM), we demonstrate photon pair generation via spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) from subwavelength films. We achieved photon pair generation with a high coincidence-to-accidental r…
High-efficient and high-purity photon sources are highly desired for quantum information processing. We report the design of a chip-scale hybrid SixNy and thin film periodically-poled lithium niobate waveguide for generating high-purity type-II spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) photons in telecommunication band. The modeled second harmonic generation efficiency of 225% W^(-1)*cm^(-2) is obtained at 1560nm. Joint spectral analysis is performed to estimate the frequency correlation of SPDC photons, yielding intrinsic purity with up to 95.17%. The generation rate of these high-purity …
We analyze the process of photon-pair generation via spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a quadratic nonlinear asymmetric waveguide coupler. The two waveguides have different geometry, such that light coupling only occurs within a narrow bandwidth of one of the generated (signal) photon modes, while the other (idler) photon together with the pump stay localized in one (driven) arm of the coupler. We demonstrate that such a setup represents a powerful and flexible tool for engineering spectral properties of generated photon pairs. Mode hybridization and dispersion of coupling can be utili…
We present a theoretical analysis of the process of spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) in a non-linear crystal characterized by a linearly-chirped X(2) grating along the direction of propagation. Our analysis leads to an expression for the joint spectral amplitude, based on which we can derive various spectral-temporal properties of the photon pairs and of the heralded single photons obtained from the photon pairs, including: the single photon spectrum, the chronocyclic Wigner function and the Schmidt number. The simulations that we present are for the specific case of a collinear S…
We present a novel yet simple approach to produced multiple entangled photon pairs through spontaneous parametric downconversion. We have developed Gaussian masks to subdivide the pump beam before passing it through a nonlinear medium. In this way, we are able to observe simultaneous separate down-converted emission cones with spatial overlap. The technique we employ can be used to greatly increase the dimensionality of entangled photonic systems generated from spontaneous parametric down conversion, affording greater scalability to optical quantum computing than previously explored.
Quantum networks require interfacing stationary and flying qubits. These flying qubits are usually nonclassical states of light. Here we consider two of the leading source technologies for nonclassical light, spontaneous parametric down-conversion and single semiconductor quantum dots. Down-conversion delivers high-grade entangled photon pairs, whereas quantum dots excel at producing single photons. We report on an experiment that joins these two technologies and investigates the conditions under which optimal interference between these dissimilar light sources may be achieved.
The nonlinear optical process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) is widely studied for applications in quantum information science due to its ability to produce two photons that can be entangled in many degrees of freedom. For applications in quantum communication, two metrics of this process are particularly important: heralding efficiency and total joint rate. Here, we derive expressions for both quantities for a variety of different beam geometries and frequencies. We pay specific attention to the spectrum of both biphotons and individual photons. We reveal the underlying mech…
We investigate the third order spontaneous parametric down-conversion process in a nonlinear media with inversion centers. Specifically, we analyze in details the three-photon differential count rate in unit frequency and angular regions, total count rate and measurement time for rutile and calcite crystals which have comparatively large cubic susceptibilities. Special attention is given to consideration of limited frequency and angular detection ranges in order to calculate experimentally available detection rate values.
Analytical expressions are derived for the distribution rates of spatial coincidences in the counting of photons produced by spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC). Gaussian profiles are assumed for the wave function of the idler and signal light created in type-I SPDC. The distribution rates describe ellipses on the detection planes that are oriented at different angles according to the photon coincidences in either horizontal-horizontal, vertical-vertical, horizontal-vertical or vertical-horizontal position variables. The predictions are in agreement with the experimental data obtaine…
As a tutorial, we examine the absolute brightness and number statistics of photon pairs generated in Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion (SPDC) from first principles. In doing so, we demonstrate how the diverse implementations of SPDC can be understood through a single common framework, and use this to derive straightforward formulas for the biphoton generation rate (pairs per second) in a variety of different circumstances. In particular, we consider the common cases of both collimated and focused gaussian pump beams in a bulk nonlinear crystal, as well as in nonlinear waveguides and micro…
