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An efficient source of quantum-correlated photon-pairs that is integrable with existing silicon-electronics fabrication techniques is desirable for use in quantum photonic integrated circuits. Here we demonstrate signal-idler photon pairs with high coincidence-to-accidental count ratios of over 103 on a coarse wavelength-division-multiplexing grid that spans 140 nm by using a 300-μm-long poled region in a thin-film periodically-poled lithium-niobate ridge waveguide bonded to silicon. The pairs are generated via spontaneous parametric downconversion pumped by a continuous-wave tunable laser source. The small mode area of the waveguide allows for efficient interaction in a short length of the waveguide and, as a result, permits photon-pair generation over a broad range of signal-idler wavelengths.

We present a metallic zinc indiffused diced ridge waveguide in magnesium doped periodically poled lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN) capable of generating over 1 W of 780 nm with 70% efficiency. Our 40 mm long waveguide has near circular fundamental mode output with diameter 10.4 um and insertion loss of -1.17 dB. Using a commercial 2 W EDFA-based system, the SHG output power did not exhibit roll-off at maximum available pump power., 9 pages

Lithium niobate (LN), dubbed by many as the silicon of photonics, has recently risen to the forefront of chip-scale nonlinear optics research since its demonstration as an ultralow-loss integrated photonics platform. Due to its significant quadratic nonlinearity ($\chi^{(2)}$), LN inspires many important applications such as second-harmonic generation (SHG), spontaneous parametric down-conversion, and optical parametric oscillation. Here, we demonstrate high-efficiency SHG in dual-resonant, periodically poled z-cut LN microrings, where quasi-phase matching is realized by field-assisted domain engineering. Meanwhile, dual-band operation is accessed by optimizing the coupling conditions in fundamental and second-harmonic bands via a single pulley waveguide. As a result, when pumping a periodically poled LN microring in the low power regime at around 1617nm, an on-chip SHG efficiency of 250,000%/W is achieved, a state-of-the-art value reported among current integrated photonics platforms. An absolute conversion efficiency of 15% is recorded with a low pump power of 115$\mu$W in the waveguide. Such periodically poled LN microrings also present a versatile platform for other cavity-enhanced quasi-phase matched $\chi^{(2)}$ nonlinear optical processes., Comment: After Optica revision cycle

The high performance of thin film lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) platform shows potential for electro-optical signal processing and nonlinear optics systems. To realize precise polarization management for sub-wavelength devices, we theoretically and experimentally investigate fundamental transverse electric (TE) and transverse magnetic (TM) mode hybridization in an x-cut LNOI ridge waveguide. Sudden jumps in the free-spectrum-range (FSR) of these modes in a fabricated microring resonator demonstrate the mode hybridization. The measured Q-factor of the lithium niobate (LN) microring is 1.78 million near the critical coupling condition. The hybridization wavelength was designed at 1562 nm and observed at 1537 nm. Potential applications include fundamental mode conversion, polarization rotation, polarization splitter, and polarization insensitive waveguides in optical receiver module.

We demonstrate a 21.2 W continuous-wave single frequency 780 nm laser by utilizing single-pass frequency doubling of a 49.8 W 1560 nm fiber amplifier in a periodically-poled magnesium-oxide-doped lithium niobate (MgO: PPLN) crystal. The conversion efficiency of the frequency doubling reaches up to 42.6%. The high power 1560 nm Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) is in-band pumped by a 1480 nm Raman fiber laser. Maximum output power of 49.8 W is obtained at an incident 1480 nm laser of 60.6 W, corresponding to an amplification efficiency of 79.7%. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest reported continuous-wave single frequency 780 nm laser, which is developed for advanced quantum technology with Rb cold atoms.

We demonstrate high-energy terahertz generation from a large-aperture (75 mm diameter) lithium niobate wafer by using a femtosecond laser with energy up to 2 J. This scheme utilizes optical rectification in a bulk lithium niobate crystal, where most terahertz energy is emitted from a thin layer of the rear surface. Despite its simple setup, this scheme can yield 0.19 mJ of terahertz energy with laser-to-terahertz conversion efficiencies of ~0.01%, about 3 times better than ZnTe when pumped at 800 nm. The experimental setup is up-scalable for multi-mJ terahertz generation with petawatt laser pumping., 4 pages, 4 figures

Based on the transverse electric (TE)/transverse magnetic (TM) polarization diversity in plasmonic Bragg gratings, a compact TM-pass/TE-stop polarizer is theoretically proposed on thin-film lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) platforms. By introducing a large misalignment between metal gratings on both sides of the LNOI waveguide, we demonstrate a polarizer with a high extinction ratio of 20 dB, a low insertion loss of 2.5 dB, a wide waveband from 1.48 to 1.62 μm, and a compact size of only 23 μm on simulation.

International audience; We report the fabrication of cavity resonator-integrated guided-mode resonance filters (CRIGFs) using a hybrid lithium-niobate/silicon oxynitride technological platform that allows the exploitation of lithium niobate advantageous material properties while maintaining standard nanoprocessing techniques. The beneficial use of this approach is illustrated with the first demonstration of thermal tuning of a CRIGF.

In this paper, we report the fabrication of lithium niobate (LN) microdisk resonators on a pulsed-laser deposited polycrystalline LN film on a silicon substrate rather than commercially provide LN film on insulator. The quality factor of these polycrystalline LN microdisks were measured above 3.4×104 in the 1550-nm band. Second harmonic generation was demonstrated in the fabricated microresonators. Because the properties of homemade LN film can be easily tuned by doping various ions, LN devices on homemade LN film may have more flexible functions and broad applications.

This Letter demonstrates lithium niobate (LiNbO3)-based transparent ultrasound transducers (TUTs) for photoacoustic imaging applications. The TUTs were fabricated by coating the top and bottom surfaces of a 0.25 mm thick LiNbO3wafer with transparent indium-tin-oxide (ITO) electrodes. The resulting transducers showed ∼80% optical transparency in the wavelength range of 690–970 nm. The TUTs had a resonant frequency of 14.5 MHz and ∼70% photoacoustic bandwidth. The versatility of the TUT approach is demonstrated by introducing two different transparent photoacoustic imaging (PAI) geometries. In one method, which suits endoscopy applications, an optical fiber of a laser diode is directly fixed on the backside of a 2.5 mm diameter TUT, and the fiber-TUT device is raster scanned to form 3D photoacoustic images. In the second method, which suits high-throughput applications, a free-space optical-only raster scanning of the laser fiber across a 1 cm×1 cm planar TUT yielded 3D photoacoustic images. The proposed TUT approach is low in cost, easy to manufacture, compatible with conventional clinical ultrasound electronics, and scalable for different configurations, including 2D TUT arrays to achieve real-time 3D high-throughput PAI.

High-efficient and high-purity photon sources are highly desired for quantum information processing. We report the design of a chip-scale hybrid SixNy and thin film periodically-poled lithium niobate waveguide for generating high-purity type-II spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) photons in telecommunication band. The modeled second harmonic generation efficiency of 225% W^(-1)*cm^(-2) is obtained at 1560nm. Joint spectral analysis is performed to estimate the frequency correlation of SPDC photons, yielding intrinsic purity with up to 95.17%. The generation rate of these high-purity photon pairs is estimated to be 2.87 * 10^7 pairs/s/mW within the bandwidth of SPDC. Our chip-scale hybrid waveguide design has the potential for large scale on-chip quantum information processing and integrated photon-efficient quantum key distribution through high-dimensional time-energy encoding., 13 pages,7 figures

In this paper, we propose an electro-optic modulator design in a hybrid Si3N4-X-cut LiNbO3. The modulator is based on a modified racetrack resonator and performs at both DC and heightened frequencies. Here the driving electrodes are defined along the straight section of the racetrack. This is done to maximize modulation and minimize modulation-cancelation that occurs in a conventional X-cut LiNbO3-based resonator due to the directional change of the electric field in the micro-ring. The single bus racetrack resonator is formed in a hybrid Si3N4-LiNbO3 platform, to guide the optical mode. The fabricated device is characterized and has a measured tunability and intrinsic quality factor (Q) of 2.9 pm/V and 1.3 × 105, respectively. In addition, the proposed racetrack device exhibits enhanced electro-optic conversion efficiency at modulation frequencies that match with the racetrack's optical free spectral range (FSR). For example, at the modulation frequency of 25 GHz, which corresponds to the fabricated device's optical FSR frequency, a ∼10 dB increase in electro-optic conversion efficiency is demonstrated. With the enhancement, our measured device demonstrates a conversion efficiency comparable to non-resonant thin-film LiNbO3 devices that possess RF electrodes that are 10 times longer in length.

Chip-integrated nonlinear photonics holds the key for advanced optical information processing with superior performance and novel functionalities. Here, we present an optimally mode-matched, periodically poled lithium niobate nanowaveguide for efficient parametric frequency conversions on chip. Using a 4-mm nanowaveguide with subwavelength mode confinement, we demonstrate second harmonic generation with efficiency over 2200% W −1 c m −2, and broadband difference frequency generation over a 4.3-THz spectral span. These allow us to generate correlated photon pairs over multiple frequency channels via spontaneous parametric down conversion, all in their fundamental spatial modes, with a coincidence to accidental ratio as high as 600. The high efficiency and dense integrability of the present chip devices may pave a viable route to scalable nonlinear applications in both classical and quantum domains.

We report surface plasmon enhanced random lasing action and weak localization owing to charge accumulation on the grain boundaries and its spectral transformation in powdered Nd3+ doped lithium niobate (Nd: LN) specimens. Accumulative charge density resulting from screening of electric field of spontaneous polarization was estimated, proving that surface plasmons (SPs) can be excited on the grain boundaries of powdered Nd: LN. The SP based scattering is believed responsible for random lasing to occur, which was further confirmed by the estimation of the scattering mean free path and the scattering cross section and intriguing three step-like backscattering reduction observed in the process of monitoring the variation of reflection spectrum with increasing pumping power. Under a certain pumping power, the powdered Nd: LN specimen was melted locally and this resulted in great changes in random lasing wavelengths. To delve into the reason behind these changes, photoluminescence spectra of the specimens were measured before and after melting. By taking a close look at their dynamics and slopes, it was found that spectral transformation of random lasing occurred owing to the change of lattice structure in powdered Nd: LN.

We demonstrate quasi-phase-matched frequency conversion in a chip-integrated lithium niobate microring resonator, whose normalized efficiency reaches 230,000%/W or 10−6 per single photon.

The wide range of functions that are possible with lithium niobate (LN) waveguide devices, including phase and intensity modulation, second-harmonic generation, and difference-frequency generation, makes it attractive as a potential microcomb material. LN microcombs would combine essential comb self-referencing and control functions with the pulse generation process in a single microresonator device. Here, we demonstrate a soliton microcomb in a monolithic high-Q LN resonator. Direct frequency doubling of the soliton spectrum is observed inside the same cavity. The LN soliton mode-locking process also self-starts and allows bi-directional switching of soliton states, effects that are shown to result from the LN photorefractive effect. The Kerr solitons exhibit a self-frequency shift resulting from the Raman effect of LN. This microcomb platform can dramatically simplify miniature time keeping, frequency synthesis/division, and spectroscopy systems. Moreover, direct generation of femtosecond timescale pulses within LN microresonators can benefit quantum photonics and signal processing systems.

We present a new method to characterize thin-film electro-optic materials. The method is based on resolving the electric and/or magnetic field distributions in the near-field region of a split-ring resonator (SRR) designed for the terahertz (THz) frequency range. We experimentally validate our simulations by THz near-field imaging of SRRs directly patterned in contact with a thin-film lithium niobate crystal as a sensor. Furthermore, we analytically study the effect of the different applied electric field polarizations and calculate the sensitivity of the sensor via various polarizations of probe beams.

Chip-scale implementations of second-order nonlinear optics benefit from increased optical confinement that can lead to nonlinear interaction strengths that are orders of magnitude higher than bulk free-space configurations. Here, we present thin-film-based ultraefficient periodically-poled lithium niobate nonlinear waveguides, leveraging actively-monitored ferroelectric domain reversal engineering and nanophotonic confinement. The devices exhibit up to 4600 %W−1cm−2 conversion efficiency for second-harmonic generation, pumped around 1540 nm. In addition, we measure broadband sum-frequency generation across multiple telecom bands, from 1460 to 1620 nm. As an immediate application of the devices, we use pulses of picojoule-level energy to demonstrate second-harmonic generation with over 10% conversion in a 0.6-mm-long waveguide. Our ultracompact and highly efficient devices address growing demands in integrated-photonic frequency conversion, frequency metrology, atomic physics, and quantum optics, while offering a coherent link between the telecom and visible bands.

We demonstrate an all-optical active mode of dielectric microdroplet splitting in a sandwich structure consisting of two anti-symmetrical y-cut LN:Fe substrates. The dynamic process of the microdroplet splitting and the simulation of the electrostatic interaction inside the sandwich gap show that the combination of two anti-symmetrical substrates are capable to provide a sufficient dielectrophoretic force and to reduce the unbalance of the drag forces for a stable and efficient splitting of the microdroplet. The dependences of the splitting time on the illumination intensity and the initial microdroplet size are also studied, and the results show that the microdroplet splitting process is fully governed by the establishment of the superposed photovoltaic field inside the sandwich gap. A key ratio Er/E0, representing the microdroplet splitting difficulty for a given sandwich structure, is found linearly dependent on the initial microdroplet size. These points are quite important to the integration of splitting functionality on the LN-based microfluidic chip.

Due to its strong piezoelectric effect and photo-elastic property, lithium niobate is widely used for acousto-optical applications. However, conventional bulk lithium niobate waveguide devices exhibit a large footprint and limited light–sound interaction resulting from the weak guiding of light. Here, we report the first acousto-optical modulators with surface acoustic wave generation, phononic cavity, and low-loss photonic waveguide devices monolithically integrated on a 500 nm thick film of lithium niobate on an insulator. Modulation efficiency was optimized by properly arranging the propagation directions of surface acoustic waves and optical guided modes. The effective photo-elastic coefficient extracted by comparing the first and third harmonic modulation signals from an on-chip Mach–Zehnder interferometer indicates the excellent acousto-optical properties of lithium niobate are preserved in the thin film implementation. Such material property finding is of crucial importance in designing various types of acousto-optical devices. Much stronger amplitude modulation was achieved in a high Q (>300,000) optical resonator due to the higher optical sensitivity. Our results pave the path for developing novel acousto-optical devices using thin film lithium niobate.

We report two sources of synchronized pairs of pulses based on optical parametric generation (OPG) and oscillation (OPO) that use aperiodically poled lithium niobate (APLN) as the nonlinear medium. The main purpose of these sources is to obtain terahertz radiation through difference-frequency generation. The APLN crystal was designed to generate two signals with their corresponding idlers from a single pump pulse; the signal wavelengths are around 1450 nm, and the frequency difference between them is tunable between ∼1 and 10 THz. In the OPO configuration, pumped by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (12 ns FWHM, 13 mJ), we obtain pairs of synchronized signals (∼5 ns FWHM) with a combined energy of 740 μJ; each signal has a bandwidth of

International audience; Conventional second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy might not clearly reveal the structure of complex samples if the interference between all scatterers in the focal volume results in artefactual patterns. We report here the use of interferometric second harmonic generation (I-SHG) microscopy to efficiently remove these artifacts from SHG images. Interfaces between two regions of opposite polarity are considered because they are known to produce imaging artifacts in muscle for instance. As a model system, such interfaces are first studied in periodically-poled lithium niobate (PPLN), where an artefactual incoherent SH signal is obtained because of irregularities at the interfaces, that overshadow the sought-after coherent contribution. Using I-SHG allows to remove the incoherent part completely without any spatial filtering. Second, I-SHG is also proven to resolve the doubleband pattern expected in muscle where standard SHG exhibits in some regions artefactual single-band patterns. In addition to removing the artifacts at the interfaces between antiparallel domains in both structures (PPLN and muscle), I-SHG also increases their visibility by up to a factor of 5. This demonstrates that I-SHG is a powerful technique to image biological samples at enhanced contrast while suppressing artifacts.

International audience; A refractive index interface is dynamically induced in a bulk photorefractive material by biasing two adjacent regions with different electric fields, thus building up an electric wall. Effects of this interface on reflection, refraction and breathing of bright photorefractive solitons and their associated waveguides are numerically and experimentally studied as a function of the induced purely electric field gradient. Reflection and refraction efficiency depends on the amplitude and sign of the applied voltages that affect both the self-confining beam and the signals propagating inside the waveguide. Experimental tests are performed in nominally undoped lithium niobate samples.

Ion-sliced lithium niobate thin films offer high optical confinement over their bulk counter parts, enabling compact and efficient nonlinear optics. Quasi-phase matching by periodic poling of thin film lithium niobate remains challenging, however, due to large leakage currents, especially in magnesium oxide doped lithium niobate, which is used in bulk to reduce photorefractive damage. Here we present fabrication and poling details of 700 nm thick x-cut magnesium oxide doped lithium niobate thin films using electric field poling. We introduce a silicon dioxide insulation layer under co-planar electrodes to reduce leakage current. Rounded tips are utilized to encourage nucleation at the center of the electrodes. Uniform domains with 7.5 µm period and 50% duty cycle are achieved. The poling characteristics are compared to bulk lithium niobate, with and without the silicon dioxide insulation layer. The domains are characterized by piezoresponse force microscopy, hydrofluoric etching, and waveguide second harmonic generation at 1550 nm wavelength in a thin film lithium niobate waveguide loaded with a silicon nitride strip.

An on-chip lithium niobate (LiNbO3) slab waveguide platform is proposed that simultaneously produces electric field pulses through sum and difference frequency generation. By controlling the geometry of the slab waveguide, phase-matching is achieved that produces radiation in the visible and midinfrared spectral bands. The slab waveguide confines the sum frequency generation wavelengths to the waveguide core and allows the difference frequency generation wavelengths to be emitted as Cherenkov waves. A finite-difference time-domain analysis is performed to study this multiband generation, where the LiNbO3 slab waveguide produces electric field pulses at a conversion efficiency of 14×10−5 and 0.5×10−5 through sum and difference frequency generation, respectively. This slab waveguide platform provides suitable design flexibility because the emission wavelengths are adjustable through proper choice of the waveguide core width and the excitation wavelengths. This source allows for better utilization of on-chip space by reducing the total number of devices necessary to achieve multiband light generation.

In this Letter, a novel technique for independent control of the phase-matched center wavelength and bandwidth (BW) is demonstrated for upconversion detection in the 2–4 μm range using a fanout lithium niobate (LN) crystal. A compact, all-semiconductor, 975 nm laser delivering 3.5 W of power is used as the pump in a single-pass upconversion configuration. A globar (∼800°C) is used as the infrared test source. Continuous tuning of the detected wavelength (λc:2.5–3.0 μm) and BW (ΔλIR:35–225 nm) has been realized using mechanical translation and rotation, respectively, of the fanout LN crystal. A comparison between the performance of the fanout LN and a conventional periodically poled LN crystal is made. The upconverted light is detected using a commercial silicon-spectrometer. The demonstrated technique allows tailored spectral upconversion based on collinear interaction. Numerical simulations are made to complement the experimental results.

We demonstrate two non-destructive methods of studying the gradual poling of thin-film lithium niobate waveguides by the application of a sequence of high-voltage pulses, and we show the transition from under-poling to over-poling and the identification of the optimal stopping point of the poling process. The first diagnostic method is based on changes in continuous-wave light transmission through a hybrid waveguide as it is gradually poled by using a second set of monitoring electrodes fabricated alongside the principal poling electrodes. The second method is based on confocal back-reflected second-harmonic microscopy by using femtosecond optical probe pulses. The results from the two methods are in agreement with each other and may be useful as non-destructive in situ diagnostic methods for optimized poling of integrated waveguides.

We investigate the dependence of photonic waveguide propagation loss on the thickness of the buried oxide layer in Y-cut lithium niobate on insulator substrate to identify trade-offs between optical losses and electromechanical coupling of surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices for acousto-optic applications. Simulations show that a thicker oxide layer reduces the waveguide loss but lowers the electromechanical coupling coefficient of the SAW device. Optical racetrack resonators with different lengths were fabricated by argon plasma etching to experimentally extract waveguide losses. By increasing the thickness of the oxide layer from 1 {\mu}m to 2 {\mu}m, propagation loss of 2 {\mu}m (1 {\mu}m) wide waveguide was reduced from 1.85 dB/cm (3 dB/cm) to as low as 0.37 dB/cm (0.77 dB/cm), and, resonators with quality factor greater than 1 million were demonstrated. An oxide thickness of approximately 1.5 {\mu}m is sufficient to significantly reduce propagation loss due to leakage into the substrate and simultaneously attain good electromechanical coupling in acoustic devices. This work not only provides insights on the design and realization of low-loss photonic waveguides in lithium niobate, but most importantly offers experimental evidence on how the oxide thickness directly impacts losses and guides its selection for the synthesis of high-performance acousto-optic devices in Y-cut lithium niobate on insulator., Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures

Cascading of the electro-optic (EO) effect and nonlinear wave mixing can provide a way to manipulate photonic conversion in an electrically controllable manner. Here we experimentally demonstrate simultaneous transverse EO coupling and second-harmonic generation (SHG) in a periodically poled lithium niobate on insulator ridge waveguide. With tight light confinement, large EO, and nonlinear coefficients in the LNOI waveguide, the integrated device features a low-voltage fast-speed response for EO coupling and efficient conversion for SHG. The proposed scheme holds promise in realizing electrically controllable on-chip nonlinear devices.

We demonstrate octave-spanning supercontinuum generation in unpoled lithium niobate waveguides, which are engineered to possess anomalous dispersion and pumped by a turn-key femtosecond laser centered at 1560 nm. Tunable dispersive waves and strong phase-matched second-harmonic generation are both observed by controlling the widths of the waveguides. The major features of the experimental spectra are reproduced by numerical modeling of the generalized nonlinear Schrödinger equation, which can be used to guide waveguide designs for tailoring the supercontinuum spectrum. Our results identify a path to a simple and integrable supercontinuum source in lithium niobate nanophotonic platform and will enable new capabilities in precision frequency metrology.

High-quality factor microresonators are a key component in photonic integrated circuits. However, it is more difficult to precisely engineer a single component after fabrication as integration density gets higher. In this work, we improve the quality factor of the fabricated resonator by femtosecond laser shots. The high repetition laser pulses scatter into the cavity, and then the localized high-density light field introduces a light refining and “annealing” process that may restore the lattice disorders. The intrinsic quality factor of a measured mode can be promoted from 2.17×10 5 to 1.84×10 6. Moreover, increasing the shot power may kill the high order modes, and only the fundamental mode survives. This method may inspire new potential application in femtosecond laser modification in photonic integrated circuits.

To circumvent the hindrance to broad practical applications associated with uses of highly lossy metals in plasmonics, electrostatic modification-based low-loss structures are conceived and demonstrated in supporting surface plasmon polaritions (SPPs). Pairing a highly polar LiNbO3 (LN) slab with a nonpolar indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin film, a subnanometer ITO layer was modified into visible SPPs supportive owing to electrostatic screening; yet a theoretical treatment of a sandwiched structure with a sub-nanometer interlayer and an anisotropic substrate is still missing. In this Letter, a hybridized SPP supporting picture was drawn in the ITO/LN system, which agrees well with the 2D diffraction patterns observed out of phase gratings written with two coherent laser beams either of pure-extraordinary, pure-ordinary, or mixed polarizations. This platform of ITO/LN is promising in designing hybridized SPP-based devices in which the parasitic scattering of surface waves may be suppressed greatly.

A high-efficiency broadband orange laser is demonstrated by use of double-pass sum-frequency mixing in a step-chirped MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate (MgO:PPLN) crystal (ᴧ = 10.1-10.4 µm). The temperature-gradient technique is used to enhance the bandwidth of the output spectrum. A maximum orange output power of 129 mW (~65% conversion efficiency) was achieved at room temperature operation, and up to ~7.2 nm bandwidth at a temperature difference of 20 ᵒC was realized. This scheme presents an attractive approach for the generation of high power and broadband short-wavelength lasers from a single crystal, which may extend the potential biomedical and spectroscopic applications.

It is commonly adopted that the widely used method of terahertz generation by tilted-pulse-front pumping of a lithium niobate crystal is optimized when both the tilted front of the pump optical pulse and the image of the diffraction grating, which introduces the tilt, are parallel to the exit surface of the crystal. We consider more general situations. In particular, we show that a deviation of the grating image plane from parallel to the crystal exit surface leads to deterioration of the terahertz beam quality but does not significantly affect the terahertz energy. If the grating image plane and the crystal exit surface are mutual parallel, but they are nonparallel to the pulse front, the terahertz beam quality remains unaffected and the terahertz energy can be unexpectedly higher (about two times for pump pulses of a ~400 fs duration) than in the standard scheme. We propose a modified design of the tilted-pulse-front scheme based on our findings.

We report on the realization of a high-power, ultranarrow-linewidth, and frequency-locked 532~nm laser system. The laser system consists of single-pass and intra-cavity second harmonic generation of a continuous-wave Ytterbium doped fiber laser at 1064~nm in the nonlinear crystal of periodically poled lithium niobate and lithium triborate, respectively. With 47~W infrared input, 30~W green laser is generated through the type I critical phase matching in the intracavity lithium triborate crystal. The laser linewidth is measured to be on the order of sub-kHz, which is achieved by simultaneously locking the single-pass frequency doubling output onto the iodine absorption line R69 (36-1) at 532~nm. Furthermore, the phase locking between the laser system and another slave 1064~nm laser is demonstrated with relative frequency tunability being up to 10~GHz. Our results completely satisfy the requirements of 532~nm laser for quantum simulation with ultracold atoms.

We present a device designed for two-step downconversion of single-photon-level signals at 650 nm to the 1.5-μm band with low excess noise and low required pump power as a quantum interface between matter-qubit-based nodes and low-loss photonic channels for quantum communication networks. The required pump power for this interface is around 60% of that for a comparable conventional single-pass device, which reduces the demand on the pump laser and yields a corresponding reduction in dark counts due to inelastic pump scattering. The single-photon-level signal at 649.7 nm is downconverted to the telecom band using a fiber-coupled reverse proton exchange periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide and a 2.19-μm pump laser. By testing the device in the linear regime with a classical input, we achieved 99% depletion efficiency for each stage, corresponding to an internal quantum efficiency of 63% at the optimum pump power for the complete cascaded process.

Surface waves (SWs) have attracted a widespread attention due to the characteristic of subwavelength confinement and convenient manipulation in photonic integrated circuits. Though metasurface provides a powerful tool in realizing the conversion between freely propagating waves and surface modes in recent years, a gulf between guided waves (GWs) and SWs in terahertz (THz) range still exists as a bottleneck for on-chip photonic integrated devices. Here, we implemented the conversion from THz GWs to SWs through the coupling of a lithium niobate (LN) subwavelength waveguide and metasurface antennas on an all-feature on-chip THz integrated platform. The conversion process and transmission mode of the THz waves were directly visualized via a time-resolved imaging system. Based on the dynamic process, the formation of SWs could be clarified through analyzing the dispersion relation of propagating modes, which is in good agreement with numerical models. In further, relying on the numerical simulation, SWs were induced from the collective oscillations of the metasurface antenna array and the maximum coupling efficiency was around 62.6 percent. Our work provides an efficient approach to control of GWs, and promotes the practicability of THz surface integrated devices, including THz surface spectroscopy sensing.

Lithium niobate (LiNbO3) electro-optic birefringent optical waveguides or electro-optic Mach–Zehnder interferometers have been proposed as electric field sensors in recent years. Electrode-less sensing using LiNbO3 devices is an active research domain, as they do not perturb the measurands. Asymmetric LiNbO3 Mach–Zehnder interferometers can be used as electrode-less electric field sensors. However, as an electrode-less sensor cannot be electrically adjusted in the linear region of its electro-optic transfer function, the measurand is imprinted anywhere on such a characteristic. With a view toward achieving a linear response of the sensing-detection process, a simple technique for remotely biasing the electro-optic response, based on two cascaded LiNbO3 AMZI optical retarders, is described in this paper.

We demonstrate hybrid amorphous silicon uniform grating couplers for efficient coupling between the standard single-mode fiber and sub-micron lithium niobate waveguides. The grating couplers exhibit coupling efficiency of -3.06 dB and 1-dB bandwidth of 55 nm. The amorphous silicon grating couplers can also provide a universal building block applicable to other photonic platforms such as silicon nitride waveguides, whose moderate refractive index values prevent high efficiency grating couplers to be fabricated in the native waveguide.

Waveguide circuits play a key role in modern integrated optics and provide an appealing approach to scalability in quantum optics. We report on periodically poled ridge waveguides in z-cut potassium titanyl phosphate (KTiOPO4 or KTP), a material that has recently received growing interest due to its unique dispersion properties. Ridges were defined in surface-near rubidium-exchanged KTP by use of a precise diamond-blade dicing saw. We fabricated single-mode ridge waveguides at around 800 nm which exhibit widths of 1.9–3.2 μm and facilitated type-II second harmonic generation from 792 nm to 396 nm with high efficiency of 6.6 %/W·cm2. Temperature dependence of the second harmonic process was found to be 53 pm/K. The low temperature dependence and high nonlinear conversion efficiency make our waveguides ideally suited for future operations in classical nonlinear integrated optics and integrated quantum networking applications.

We report on the performance of an enhanced-cavity (EC) designed for obtaining high-power and efficiency second-harmonic generation (SHG). This is performed by numerical simulation of SHG coupled equations in the presence of a thermal dephasing effect that is effectively intensified through embedding the periodically poled LiNbO3 crystal by an oven-surrounded scheme. It is found that by setting the PPLN temperature at an optimum value, adjusting the mirror reflectively, and pumping power at certain values, gaining SHG efficiency of more than 90% is possible. We further realized that by an ECSHG device SHG efficiency can be improved by about 15%–50%. Moreover, compared to a single-pass SHG scheme, the EC-based SHG device is shown to be a very promising candidate to reduce and suppress the effect of thermal dephasing on the stability and efficiency of SHG radiation.

The broadband dispersion compensator plays an important role for the light transmission of ultrashort pulses. Inspired by the requirement for a compact, tunable dispersion compensator operating in the mid-infrared spectral range, we proposed a compact dispersion compensator with hybrid silicon and lithium niobate nanowire configuration and investigated its group-velocity dispersion characteristics numerically. The results show that the tailored hybrid waveguide can exhibit group velocity dispersion of up to 105 ps2·km−1 in the 2~5 μm spectral range. In addition, the dispersion can be tuned via the applied bias field by the aid of the excellent electro-optical performance of the host material, lithium niobate. This work may provide some guidelines for designing broadband dispersion compensators and make an inroad for miniaturized functional optoelectronic devices.

Conventional ultra-high sensitivity detectors in the millimeter-wave range are usually cooled as their own thermal noise at room temperature would mask the weak received radiation. The need for cryogenic systems increases the cost and complexity of the instruments, hindering the development of, among others, airborne and space applications. In this work, the nonlinear parametric upconversion of millimeter-wave radiation to the optical domain inside high-quality (Q) lithium niobate whispering-gallery mode (WGM) resonators is proposed for ultra-low noise detection. We experimentally demonstrate coherent upconversion of millimeter-wave signals to a 1550 nm telecom carrier, with a photon conversion efficiency surpassing the state-of-the-art by 2 orders of magnitude. Moreover, a theoretical model shows that the thermal equilibrium of counterpropagating WGMs is broken by overcoupling the millimeter-wave WGM, effectively cooling the upconverted mode and allowing ultra-low noise detection. By theoretically estimating the sensitivity of a correlation radiometer based on the presented scheme, it is found that room-temperature radiometers with better sensitivity than state-of-the-art high-electron-mobility transistor (HEMT)-based radiometers can be designed. This detection paradigm can be used to develop room-temperature instrumentation for radio astronomy, earth observation, planetary missions, and imaging systems. Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) (TEC2013-47753-C3); Comunidad de Madrid (S2013/ICE-3004); Banco Santander (TEC2016-76997-C3-2-R); Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) (IN[16]_TIC_TIC_0040); 2017 UC3M-Santander Chair of Excellence.

Nanoplasmonic waveguides based on lithium niobate (LN) are shown to provide the light-matter interaction required for next-generation developments in nonlinear frequency-conversion nanostructures. Here, we numerically investigate second harmonic generation of a 1550 nm, 100 fs pulse in metal-LN-metal (MLNM) nanoplasmonic and LN hybrid-plasmonic (LNHP) waveguides. In comparison to a photonic LN waveguide, a 2.1 µm-long LNHP waveguide exhibits a conversion efficiency improvement of 11 times, whereas a 20 µm-long MLNM nanoplasmonic waveguide is shown to have a conversion efficiency of 1.1 × 10-4. The MLNM nanoplasmonic and LNHP waveguides have the potential to operate as sources of optical radiation for on-chip photonic systems.

We systematically investigate the influences of the input infrared spectrum, chirp, and polarization on the emitted intense terahertz spectrum and spatial dispersion in lithium niobate via optical rectification. The terahertz yield and emission spectrum depend on both the chirp and spectrum of the input pump laser pulses. We also observe slight non-uniform spatial dispersion using a knife-edge measurement, which agrees well with the original predictions. The possible mechanism is the nonlinear distortion effect caused by high-energy laser pumping. Our study is very important and useful for developing intense terahertz systems with applications in extreme terahertz sciences and nonlinear phenomena.

Future quantum information networks operated on telecom channels require qubit transfer between different wavelengths while preserving quantum coherence and entanglement. Qubit transfer is a nonlinear optical process, but currently the types of atoms used for quantum information processing and storage are limited by the narrow bandwidth of upconversion available. Here we present the first experimental demonstration of broadband and high-efficiency quasi-phase matching second-harmonic generation (SHG) in a chip-scale periodically poled lithium niobate thin film. We achieve a large bandwidth of up to 2 THz for SHG by satisfying quasi-phase matching and group-velocity matching simultaneously. Furthermore, by changing the film thickness, the central wavelength of the quasi-phase matching SHG bandwidth can be modulated from 2.70 μm to 1.44 μm. The reconfigurable quasi-phase matching lithium niobate thin film provides a significant on-chip integrated platform for photonics and quantum optics.

High complexity, dense integrated nanophotonic circuits possessing strong non-linearities are desirable for a breadth of applications in classical and quantum optics. In this work, we study phase matching via modal engineering in lithium niobate (LN) waveguides and microring resonators on chip for second harmonic generation (SHG). By carefully engineering the geometry dispersion, we observe a 26% W−1cm−2 normalized efficiency for SHG in a waveguide with submicron transverse mode confinement. With similar cross-sectional dimensions, we demonstrate a phase matched microring resonator with 10 times enhancement on SHG. Our platform is capable of harnessing the strongest optical nonlinear and electro-optic effects in LN on chip with unrestricted planar circuit layouts. It offers opportunities for dense and scalable integration of efficient photonic devices with low loss and high nonlinearity.

International audience; We have developed a Watt-level random laser at 532 nm. The laser is based on a 1064 nm random distributed ytterbium-gain assisted fiber laser seed with a 0.35 nm line-width 900mW polarized output power. A study for the optimal length of the random distributed mirror was carried out. An ytterbium-doped fiber master oscillator power amplifier architecture is used to amplify the random seeder laser without additional spectral broadening up to 20 W. By using a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) crystal in a single pass configuration we generate in excess of 1 W random laser at 532 nm by second harmonic generation with an efficiency of 9 %. The green random laser exhibits an instability 70 dB, 0.1 nm linewidth and excellent beam quality. Random distributed fiber lasers (RDFLs) based on distributed Rayleigh scattering, have been thoroughly investigated due to their high performances and unique features [1]. Where traditional laser schemes are based in resonant cavities for feedback generation, RDFLs use the Rayleigh scattering of a long fiber as distributed mirror, generating a modeless-behavior laser [2,3]. The research in this field has led to the generation of ultra-high power RDFLs from hundreds of Watts [4] to kWs [5,6], narrower linewidth RDFLs up to sub-gigahertz [7], polarized output RDFLs [8-10], tunable RDFLs [11-13] and pulsed generation [14,15]. Gain in RDFLs can be generated from Raman scattering [2,16], by rare earth-doped fibers [12,13] or a hybrid of both [17]. However, to date random lasers in the visible based on second harmonic generation (SHG) of RDFLs have been only reported in [18] with the generation of 110 mw at 654nm in a magnesium periodically poled lithium niobate (MgPPLN) crystal. In this letter, we report for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a Watt-level visible random laser at 532 nm based on SHG of a RDFL, with a polarized output power in excess of 1W, instability 70 dB and excellent beam quality. The RDFL is based on a half open-cavity setup assisted by a 3m-long Yb-doped double-clad fiber as gain medium (see Fig. 1). The core and clad radii of the fiber are respectively 10 and 130 m, and its clad absorption is 4.6 dB/m at 976 nm. The Yb-fiber is forward-pumped through a multi-mode (MM) combiner with a 9W multimode laser diode (LD) at 976nm. Forward pumping has been previously reported as more efficient in Yb-gain assisted RDFL [19]. The wavelength selection is carried out by a high-reflective (99.85%) fiber Bragg grating (FBG) centered at 1064.39 nm and with a 0.57 nm bandwidth. The distributed mirror is based on single-mode fiber (SMF28). Although this fiber operates in multimode regime at 1064 nm, the splice with the 1060 fiber at the output-isolator filters the high order modes. Moreover, the SMF core radius (∼9 m) is comparable to the Yb-fiber one, reducing the losses in the splice. A pump power stripper was used before the SMF fiber in order to remove the residual pump. Fig. 1. Schematic of the 532nm random laser. (RDFL: Random Distributed Fiber Laser, MO: Master Oscillator, PA: Power Amplifier, SHG: Second Harmonic Generation, PM ISO: Polarization Maintaining Isolator) To optimize the length of the distributed mirror, we carried out measurements for different SMF lengths from 1.5Km to 3Km. Figure 2 shows the spectra and the output power before the isolator for the different SMF lengths. As expected, Raman scattering becomes significant for longer fibers, starting to be critical for lengths over 3Km. Moreover, the high attenuation of SMF28 at 1064 nm (∼1.5 dB/Km) reduce the efficiency, making shorter fibers more attractive. However, the key-point for the distributed mirror length selection was determined by the random laser behavior. RDFL dynamics are less investigated in rare-earth doped-fiber gain assisted systems than in the based on Raman gain. In order to contribute to the understanding of this class of laser, we carried out a consistent study of the RDFL

This Letter presents an optical mode transition structure for use in Si3N4/LiNbO3-based hybrid photonics. A gradual modal transition from a Si3N4 waveguide to a hybrid Si3N4/LiNbO3 waveguide is achieved by etching a terrace structure into the sub-micrometer thick LiNbO3 film. The etched film is then bonded to predefined low pressure chemical vapor deposition Si3N4 waveguides. Herein we analyze hybrid optical devices both with and without the aforementioned mode transition terrace structure. Experimental and simulated results indicate that inclusion of the terrace significantly improves mode transition compared to an abrupt transition, i.e., a 1.78 dB lower mode transition loss compared to the abrupt transition. The proposed transition structure is also applied to the design of hybrid Si3N4-LiNbO3 micro-ring resonators. A high-quality factor (Q) resonator is demonstrated with the terrace transition which mitigates undesired resonances.

We characterize the impact of the modulator material on chirp, digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms and system-level performance in coherent digital optical links. We compare theoretically, in simulations and experimentally the lithium niobate (LiNbO3), indium phosphide (InP) and silicon (Si) integrated platforms. Distortions to vector diagrams are traced back to modulation physics, and are interpreted as quadrature crosstalk. In a back-to-back BPSK setup with an RF drive signal amplitude of 1.5Vπ, we measure chirp parameters α of ~0, 0.10 and 0.06 and error vector magnitude EVMRMS of 5.3%, 9.4% and 10.6% with the LiNbO3, InP and Si modulators respectively. Both α and EVMRMS are found to scale with the RF signal amplitude. In simulations, using a polynomial fit over a sinusoidal fit when pre-compensating the Si modulator transfer function slightly improves EVM (-0.6%). We also show that Si-related distortions can impact the efficiency of symbol timing recovery. In conclusion, phase and attenuation distortions in InP and Si modulators deteriorate the overall performance in coherent links, and cannot be neglected for large RF signal amplitudes. These results will benefit the optical communications community.