Terahertz (THz)-bandwidth continuous-wave (CW) squeezed light is essential for integrating quantum processors with time-domain multiplexing (TDM) by using optical delay line interferometers. Here, we utilize a single-pass optical parametric amplifier (OPA) based on a single-spatial-mode periodically poled ZnO:LiNbO3 waveguide, which is directly bonded onto a LiTaO3 substrate. The single-pass OPA allows THz bandwidth, and the absence of higher-order spatial modes in the single-spatial-mode structure helps to avoid degradation of squeezing. In addition, the directly bonded ZnO-doped waveguide has durability for high-power pump and shows small photorefractive damage. Using this waveguide, we observe CW 6.3-dB squeezing at 20-MHz sideband by balanced homodyne detection. This is the first realization of CW squeezing with a single-pass OPA at a level exceeding 4.5 dB, which is required for the generation of a two-dimensional cluster state. Furthermore, the squeezed light shows 2.5-THz spectral bandwidth. The squeezed light will lead to the development of a high-speed on-chip quantum processor using TDM with a centimeter-order optical delay line.
We have used an ultra-low threshold continuous-wave Optical Parametric Oscillator (OPO) to reduce the quantum fluctuations of the reflected pump beam below the shot noise limit. The OPO consisted of a triply resonant cavity containing a Periodically-Poled Lithium Niobate crystal pumped by a Nd:YAG laser and giving signal and idler wavelengths close to 2.12 microns and a threshold as low as 300 microwatts. We detected the quantum fluctuations of the pump beam reflected by the OPO using a slightly modified homodyne detection technique. The measured noise reduction was 30 % (inferred noise reduct…
A continuous-wave (CW) broadband high-level optical quadrature squeezer is essential for high-speed large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing on a time-domain-multiplexed continuous-variable optical cluster state. CW THz-bandwidth squeezed light can be obtained with a waveguide optical parametric amplifier (OPA); however, the squeezing level have been insufficient for applications of fault-tolerant quantum computation because of degradation of the squeezing level due to their optical losses caused by the structural perturbation and pump-induced phenomena. Here, by using mechanical polishing…
We have developed an optical parametric amplification module for quadrature squeezing with input and output ports coupled with optical fibers for both fundamental and second harmonic. The module consists of a periodically poled LiNbO${}_{3}$ ridge waveguide fabricated with dry etching, dichroic beamsplitters, lenses and four optical fiber pigtales. The high durability of the waveguide and the good separation of squeezed light from a pump beam by the dichroic beamsplitter enable us to inject intense continuous-wave pump light with the power of over 300 mW. We perform $-$4.0${\pm}$0.1 dB of nois…
Photon-pair sources based on thin film lithium niobate on insulator technology have a great potential for integrated optical quantum information processing. We report on such a source of correlated twin-photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down conversion in a silicon nitride (SiN) rib loaded thin film periodically poled lithium niobate (LN) waveguide. The generated photon pairs have a wavelength centred at 1560\,nm compatible with present telecom infrastructure, a large bandwidth (21\,THz) and a brightness of $\sim 2.5\times 10^5$\,pairs/s/mW/GHz. The photons are correlated and ex…
We report a novel source of twin beams based on modulational instability in high-pressure argon-filled hollow-core kagomé-style photonic-crystal fibre. The source is Raman-free and manifests strong photon-number correlations for femtosecond pulses of squeezed vacuum with a record brightness of ~2500 photons per mode. The ultra-broadband (~50 THz) twin beams are frequency tunable and contain one spatial and less than 5 frequency modes.
Phase-sensitive detection is the essential projective measurement for measurement-based continuous-variable quantum information processing. The bandwidth of conventional electrical phase-sensitive detectors is up to several gigahertz, which would limit the speed of quantum computation. It is theoretically proposed to realize terahertz-order detection bandwidth by using all-optical phase-sensitive detection with an optical parametric amplifier (OPA). However, there have been experimental obstacles to achieve large parametric gain for continuous waves, which is required for use in quantum comput…
Electro-optical sampling of Terahertz fields with ultrashort pulsed probes is a well-established approach for directly measuring the electric field of THz radiation. This technique usually relies on balanced detection to record the optical phase shift brought by THz-induced birefringence. The sensitivity of electro-optical sampling is, therefore, limited by the shot noise of the probe pulse, and improvements could be achieved using quantum metrology approaches using, e.g., NOON states for Heisenberg-limited phase estimation. We report on our experiments on THz electro-optical sampling using si…
Squeezed light is a key quantum resource that enables quantum advantages for sensing, networking, and computing applications. The scalable generation and manipulation of squeezed light with integrated platforms are highly desired for the development of quantum technology with continuous variables. In this letter, we demonstrate squeezed light generation with thin-film lithium niobate integrated photonics. Para-metric down-conversion is realized with quasi-phase matching using ferroelectric domain engineering. With sub-wavelength mode confinement, efficient nonlinear processes can be observed w…
The optical microresonator-based frequency comb (microcomb) provides a versatile platform for nonlinear physics studies and has wide applications ranging from metrology to spectroscopy. Deterministic quantum regime is an unexplored aspect of microcombs, in which unconditional entanglements among hundreds of equidistant frequency modes can serve as critical ingredients to scalable universal quantum computing and quantum networking. Here, we demonstrate a deterministic quantum microcomb in a silica microresonator on a silicon chip. 40 continuous-variable quantum modes, in the form of 20 simultan…
One of the most fundamental quantum states of light is squeezed vacuum, in which noise in one of the quadratures is less than the standard quantum noise limit. Significant progress has been made in the generation of optical squeezed vacuum and its utilization for numerous applications. However, it remains challenging to generate, manipulate, and measure such quantum states in nanophotonics with performances required for a wide range of scalable quantum information systems. Here, we overcome this challenge in lithium niobate nanophotonics by utilizing ultrashort-pulse phase-sensitive amplifiers…
We investigate the output generation of squeezed radiation of a cavity photon mode coupled to another off-resonant bosonic excitation. By modulating in time their linear interaction, we predict high degree of output squeezing when the dispersive ultrastrong coupling regime is achieved, i.e., when the interaction rate becomes comparable to the frequency of the lowest energy mode. Our work paves the way to squeezed light generation in frequency domains where the ultrastrong coupling is obtained, e.g., solid-state resonators in the GHz, THz and mid-IR spectral range.
Continuous-wave (CW) squeezed light is used in generation of various optical quantum states thus is a fundamental resource of fault-tolerant universal quantum computation using optical continuous variables. To realize a practical quantum computer, a waveguide optical parametric amplifier (OPA) is an attractive CW squeezed light source in terms of its THz-order bandwidth and suitability for modularization. The usages of a waveguide OPA in quantum applications thus far, however, are limited due to the difficulty of the generation of the squeezed light with a high purity. In this paper, we report…
