ABSTRACT
Photon echoes in rare-earth-doped crystals are studied to understand the challenges of making broadband quantum memories using the atomic frequency comb (AFC) protocol in systems with hyperfine structure. The hyperfine structure of Pr3+ poses an obstacle to this goal because frequencies associated with the hyperfine transitions change the simple picture of modulation at an externally imposed frequency. The current work focuses on the intermediate case where the hyperfine spacing is comparable to the comb spacing, a challenging regime that has recently been considered. Operating in this regime may facilitate storing quantum information over a larger spectral range in such systems. In this work, we prepare broadband AFCs using optical combs with tooth spacings ranging from 1 MHz to 16 MHz in fine steps, and measure transmission spectra and photon echoes for each. We predict the spectra and echoes theoretically using the optical combs as input to either a rate equation code or a density matrix code, which calculates the redistribution of populations. We then use the redistributed populations as input to a semiclassical theory using the frequency-dependent dielectric function. The two sets of predictions each give a good, but different account of the photon echoes.
ABSTRACT
We study the collective radiative decay of a system of two two-level emitters coupled to a one-dimensional waveguide in a regime where their separation is comparable to the coherence length of a spontaneously emitted photon. The electromagnetic field propagating in the cavity-like geometry formed by the emitters exerts a retarded backaction on the system leading to strongly non-Markovian dynamics. The collective spontaneous emission rate of the emitters exhibits an enhancement or inhibition beyond the usual Dicke superradiance and subradiance due to self-consistent coherent time-delayed feedback.
ABSTRACT
Rare-earth ion ensembles doped in single crystals are a promising materials system with widespread applications in optical signal processing, lasing, and quantum information processing. Incorporating rare-earth ions into integrated photonic devices could enable compact lasers and modulators, as well as on-chip optical quantum memories for classical and quantum optical applications. To this end, a thin film single crystalline wafer structure that is compatible with planar fabrication of integrated photonic devices would be highly desirable. However, incorporating rare-earth ions into a thin film form-factor while preserving their optical properties has proven challenging. We demonstrate an integrated photonic platform for rare-earth ions doped in a single crystalline thin film lithium niobate on insulator. The thin film is composed of lithium niobate doped with Tm3+. The ions in the thin film exhibit optical lifetimes identical to those measured in bulk crystals. We show narrow spectral holes in a thin film waveguide that require up to 2 orders of magnitude lower power to generate than previously reported bulk waveguides. Our results pave the way for scalable on-chip lasers, optical signal processing devices, and integrated optical quantum memories.
ABSTRACT
We demonstrate quantum interference of three photons that are distinguishable in time by resolving them in the conjugate parameter frequency. We show that the multiphoton interference pattern in our setup can be manipulated by tuning the relative delays between the photons, without the need for reconfiguring the optical network. Furthermore, we observe that the symmetries of our optical network and the spectral amplitude of the input photons are manifested in the interference pattern. We also demonstrate time-reversed Hong-Ou-Mandel-like interference in the spectral correlations using time-bin entangled photon pairs. By adding a time-varying dispersion using a phase modulator, our setup can be used to realize dynamically reconfigurable and scalable boson sampling in the time domain as well as frequency-resolved multiboson correlation sampling.
ABSTRACT
Quantum light is characterized by distinctive statistical distributions that are possible only because of quantum mechanical effects. For example, single photons and correlated photon pairs exhibit photon number distributions with variance lower than classically allowed limits. This enables high-fidelity transmission of quantum information and sensing with lower noise than possible with classical light sources1,2. Most quantum light sources rely on spontaneous parametric processes such as down-conversion and four-wave mixing2. These processes are mediated by vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field. Therefore, by manipulating the electromagnetic mode structure, for example with dispersion-engineered nanophotonic systems, the spectrum of generated photons can be controlled3-7. However, disorder, which is ubiquitous in nanophotonic fabrication, causes device-to-device spectral variations8-11. Here we realize topologically robust electromagnetic modes and use their vacuum fluctuations to create a quantum light source in which the spectrum of generated photons is much less affected by fabrication-induced disorder. Specifically, we use the topological edge states realized in a two-dimensional array of ring resonators to generate correlated photon pairs by spontaneous four-wave mixing and show that they outperform their topologically trivial one-dimensional counterparts in terms of spectral robustness. We demonstrate the non-classical nature of the generated light and the realization of a robust source of heralded single photons by measuring the conditional antibunching of photons, that is, the reduced likelihood of photons arriving together compared to thermal or laser light. Such topological effects, which are unique to bosonic systems, could pave the way for the development of robust quantum photonic devices.
