Optical parametric amplification of sub-cycle shortwave infrared pulses

Lin, Yan‐Cheng; Nabekawa, Yasuo; Midorikawa, Katsumi

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-17247-9

Cited by 28 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Quadratic nonlinearities provides an alternative path for achieving strong optical amplification through threewave mixing 11,16 . Such processes have been extensively used in bulk optical systems leading to intense amplification including at wavelengths where other gain mechanisms are not easily available 17 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Intense optical parametric amplification in dispersion engineered nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides

Ledezma,

Sekine,

Guo

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Strong amplification in integrated photonics is one of the most desired optical functionalities for computing 1 , communications 2 , sensing 3 , and quantum information processing 4 .Semiconductor gain 5,6 and cubic nonlinearities, such as four-wave mixing 7,8 and stimulated Raman and Brillouin scattering 9,10 , 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 11 , among which nanophotonic lithium niobate is one of the most promising candidates [12][13][14][15] . Here, we combine quasi-phase matching with dispersion engineering in nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides and achieve intense optical parametric amplification. We measure a broadband phasesensitive amplification larger than 45 dB/cm in a 2.5-mm-long waveguide. We further confirm high gain operation in the degenerate and nondegenerate regimes by amplifying vacuum fluctuations to macroscopic levels in a 6-mm-long waveguide, with 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.

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mentioning

confidence: 99%

Intense optical parametric amplification in dispersion engineered nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides

Ledezma,

Sekine,

Guo

et al. 2021

Preprint

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“…Optical parametric amplification (OPA) is the amplification of a low-intensity input wave by a high-intensity pump wave, such that there is an energy transfer from the pump waveenergized interaction medium to the input wave, through which the input wave intensity is increased to a high degree. The main advantage of OPA is that it enables wideband high-gain amplification, as opposed to lasers which offer relatively low gain over a limited bandwidth (Zhang et al 1993;Lin et al 2020;Paschotta 2008). Hence, the gainbandwidth product of optical parametric amplifiers (OPAs) is much higher than lasers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They are also quite bulky and take up a large space on a laboratory desk (Zhang et al 2016). They are used for many applications, such as imaging, molecular spectroscopy, inertial confinement fusion, high-energy density physics, chemical sensing, and many others (Zhang et al 1993;Zhang et al 2016;Lin et al 2020;Paschotta 2004;Saleh and Teich 2019;Trovatello et al 2021;Kuramochi 2021;Baumgartner and Byer 1979). But due to their high-cost and bulkiness, for applications and laboratory measurements requiring high opticalintensity, investigators are often forced to come up with alternative implementations with lower accuracies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nanoscale optical parametric amplification through super-nonlinearity induction

Aşırım

Kuzuoğlu

2022

Appl Nanosci

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Optical parametric amplification (OPA) is a nonlinear process through which a low-power input wave is amplified by extracting energy from an interaction medium that is energized by a high-intensity pump wave. For a significant amplification of an input wave, a sufficiently long interaction medium is required, which is usually on the order of a few centimeters. Therefore, in the small scale, OPA is considered unfeasible, and this prevents it from being employed in micro and nanoscale devices. There have been recent studies that proposed microscale OPA through the use of micro-resonators. However, there is currently no study that has suggested high-gain nanoscale OPA, which could be quite useful for implementing nanoscale optical devices. This study aims to show that nanoscale OPA is feasible through the concurrent maximization of the pump wave induced electric energy density and the polarization density (nonlinear coupling strength) within the interaction medium, which enables a very high amount of energy to be transferred to the input wave that is sufficient to amplify the input wave with a gain factor that is comparable to those provided by centimeter scale nonlinear crystals. The computational results of our OPA model match with the experimental ones in the context of sum-harmonic generation, which is the wave-mixing process that gives rise to OPA, with an accuracy of 97.6%. The study aims to make room for further investigation of nanoscale OPA through adaptive optics and/or nonlinear programming algorithms for the enhancement of the process.

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“…Wavelength conversion in nonlinear materials plays an important role in a broad range of classical and quantum optical applications, including optical parametric amplification [1], supercontinuum generation [2], all-optical signal processing [3], sensing [4], photon pair generation [5], [6], and squeezed state generation [7], etc. Compact and efficient wavelength conversion can be achieved in nonlinear waveguides, in which the interacting fields are tightly confined for a long interaction length comparing to their bulk crystal counterparts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wavelength Conversion Efficiency Enhancement in Modal Phase Matched $\chi^{\hbox{{(2)}}}$ Nonlinear Waveguides

et al. 2021

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Modal phase matching (MPM) is a widely used phase matching technique in AlxGa 1−x As and other χ (2) nonlinear waveguides for efficient wavelength conversions. The use of a non-fundamental spatial mode compensates the material dispersion but also reduces the spatial overlap of the three interacting waves and therefore limits the conversion efficiency. In this work, we develop a technique to increase the nonlinear overlap by modifying the material nonlinearity, instead of the traditional method of optimizing the modal field profiles. This could eliminate the limiting factor of low spatial overlap inherent to MPM and significantly enhance the conversion efficiency. Among the design examples provided, this technique could increase the conversion efficiency by a factor of up to ∼290 in an AlxGa 1−x As waveguide. We further show that this technique is applicable to all χ (2) material systems that utilize MPM for wavelength conversion.

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Optical parametric amplification of sub-cycle shortwave infrared pulses

Cited by 28 publications

References 47 publications

Intense optical parametric amplification in dispersion engineered nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides

Intense optical parametric amplification in dispersion engineered nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides

Nanoscale optical parametric amplification through super-nonlinearity induction

Wavelength Conversion Efficiency Enhancement in Modal Phase Matched $\chi^{\hbox{{(2)}}}$ Nonlinear Waveguides

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