Demonstration of a low loss, highly stable and re-useable edge coupler for high heralding efficiency and low g(2)(0) SOI correlated photon pair sources.

We report a stable, low loss method for coupling light from silicon-on-insulator (SOI) photonic chips into optical fibers. The technique is realized using an on-chip tapered waveguide and a cleaved small core optical fiber. The on-chip taper is monolithic and does not require a patterned cladding, thus simplifying the chip fabrication process. The optical fiber segment is composed of a centimeter-long small core fiber (UHNA7) which is spliced to SMF-28 fiber with less than -0.1 dB loss. We observe an overall coupling loss of -0.64 dB with this design. The chip edge and fiber tip can be butt coupled without damaging the on-chip taper or fiber. Friction between the surfaces maintains alignment leading to an observation of ±0.1 dB coupling fluctuation during a ten-day continuous measurement without use of any adhesive. This technique minimizes the potential for generating Raman noise in the fiber, and has good stability compared to coupling strategies based on longer UHNA fibers or fragile lensed fibers. We also applied the edge coupler on a correlated photon pair source and observed a raw coincidence count rate of 1.21 million cps and raw heralding efficiency of 21.3%. We achieved an auto correlation function g H(2)(0) as low as 0.0004 at the low pump power regime.

Study on Axial Dispersion Characteristics of Double-Layer Prefabricated Fragments.

The axial distribution of initial velocity and direction angle of double-layer prefabricated fragments after an explosion were investigated via an explosion detonation test. A three-stage detonation driving model of double-layer prefabricated fragments was proposed. In the three-stage driving model, the acceleration process of double-layer prefabricated fragments is divided into three stages: "detonation wave acceleration stage", "metal-medium interaction stage" and "detonation products acceleration stage". The initial parameters of each layer of prefabricated fragments calculated by the three-stage detonation driving model of double-layer prefabricated fragments fit well with the test results. It was shown that the energy utilization rate of detonation products acting on the inner-layer and outer-layer fragments were 69% and 56%, respectively. The deceleration effect of sparse waves on the outer layer of fragments was weaker than that on the inner layer. The maximum initial velocity of fragments was located near the center of the warhead where the sparse waves intersected, located at around 0.66 times of the full length of warhead. This model can provide theoretical support and a design scheme for the initial parameter design of double-layer prefabricated fragment warheads.