Intense optical parametric amplification in dispersion-engineered nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides
Abstract
Strong amplification in integrated photonics is one of the most desired optical functionalities for computing, communications, sensing, and quantum information processing. Semiconductor gain and cubic nonlinearities, such as four-wave mixing and stimulated Raman and Brillouin scattering, have been among the most studied amplification mechanisms on chip. Alternatively, material platforms with strong quadratic nonlinearities promise numerous advantages with respect to gain and bandwidth, among which nanophotonic lithium niobate is one of the most promising candidates. Here, we combine quasi-phase matching with dispersion engineering in nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides and achieve intense optical parametric amplification. We measure a broadband phase-sensitive on-chip amplification larger than 50 dB/cm in a 6-mm-long waveguide. We further confirm high gain operation in the degenerate and nondegenerate regimes by amplifying vacuum fluctuations to macroscopic levels, with on-chip gains exceeding 100 dB/cm over 600 nm of bandwidth around 2 µm. Our results unlock new possibilities for on-chip few-cycle nonlinear optics, mid-infrared photonics, and quantum photonics.
Additional Information
© 2022 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement. Received 2 September 2021; revised 25 February 2022; accepted 1 March 2022; published 14 March 2022. The device nanofabrication was performed at the Kavli Nanoscience Institute (KNI) at Caltech. The authors thank Robert Gray for his experimental support and Dr. Marc Jankowski for helpful discussions. The authors thank Dr. Joong Hwan Bahng, Dr. Ryan Briggs, and Dr. Myoung-Gyun Suh for assistance with the fabrication development process. A part of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and funded through the President's and Director's Research and Development Fund (PDRDF). The authors wish to thank NTT Research for their financial and technical support. Funding: National Science Foundation (1846273, 1918549); Army Research Office (W911NF-18-1-0285); Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-20-1-0040); Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. Data availability: Data underlying the results presented in this paper are not publicly available at this time but may be obtained from the authors upon reasonable request.Attached Files
Published - optica-9-3-303.pdf
Supplemental Material - 5721731.pdf
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Additional details
- Alternative title
- Intense optical parametric amplification in dispersion engineered nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides
- Eprint ID
- 112698
- DOI
- 10.1364/OPTICA.442332
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20220104-233126231
- NSF
- ECCS-1846273
- NSF
- CCF-1918549
- Army Research Office (ARO)
- W911NF-18-1-0285
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR)
- FA9550-20-1-0040
- NASA/JPL
- NTT Research
- Created
-
2022-01-05Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2023-06-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute