ABSTRACT
A millimeter-sized, monolithic whispering gallery resonator made of a lithium tetraborate, Li2B4O7, crystal was employed for doubly resonant second-harmonic generation with a continuous-wave laser source at 490 nm. An intrinsic quality factor of 2×10(8) was observed at the pump wavelength. A conversion efficiency of 2.2% was attained with 5.9 mW of mode-matched pump power. In the lithium tetraborate resonator, it is feasible to achieve phase-matching of second-harmonic generation for pump wavelengths between 486 and 506 nm.
ABSTRACT
Identifying the mode numbers in whispering-gallery mode resonators (WGMRs) is important for tailoring them to experimental needs. Here we report on a novel experimental mode analysis technique based on the combination of frequency analysis and far-field imaging for high mode numbers of large WGMRs. The radial mode numbers q and the angular mode numbers p = â-m are identified and labeled via far-field imaging. The polar mode numbers â are determined unambiguously by fitting the frequency differences between individual whispering gallery modes (WGMs). This allows for the accurate determination of the geometry and the refractive index at different temperatures of the WGMR. For future applications in classical and quantum optics, this mode analysis enables one to control the narrow-band phase-matching conditions in nonlinear processes such as second-harmonic generation or parametric down-conversion.
ABSTRACT
The usual configuration of uniaxial whispering gallery mode resonators is a disk shaped geometry where the optic axis points along the symmetry axis, a so called z-cut resonator. Recently x-cut resonators, where the optic axis lies in the equatorial plane, became of interest as they enable extremely broadband second harmonic generation. In this paper we report on the properties of a more generalized system, the so called angle-cut resonator, where the optic axis exhibits an arbitrary angle against the symmetry axis. We show experimentally that the modal structure and quality factors are similar to common resonators but that the polarization properties differ quite significantly: due to the asymmetry the polarization depends on the equatorial position and is, in general, elliptical.
ABSTRACT
The generation of high-quality single-photon states with controllable narrow spectral bandwidths and central frequencies is key to facilitate efficient coupling of any atomic system to non-classical light fields. Such an interaction is essential in numerous experiments for fundamental science and applications in quantum communication and information processing, as well as in quantum metrology. Here we implement a fully tunable, narrow-band and efficient single-photon source based on a whispering gallery mode resonator. Our disk-shaped, monolithic and intrinsically stable resonator is made of lithium niobate and supports a cavity-assisted spontaneous parametric down-conversion process. The generated photon pairs are emitted into two highly tunable resonator modes. We verify wavelength tuning over 100 nm of both modes with controllable bandwidth between 7.2 and 13 MHz. Heralding of single photons yields anti-bunching with g(2)(0)<0.2.
