+44 (0)24 7671 8970
More publications     •     Advertise with us     •     Contact us
*/
News Article

Changing the color of quantum light on an integrated chip

News

Optical photons are ideal carriers of quantum information. But to work together in a quantum computer or network, they need to have the same color — or frequency — and bandwidth. Changing a photon’s frequency requires altering its energy, which is particularly challenging on integrated photonic chips.


Recently, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) developed an integrated electro-optic modulator that can efficiently change the frequency and bandwidth of single photons. The device could be used for more advanced quantum computing and quantum networks.

The research is published in Light: Science & Applications.

Converting a photon from one color to another is usually done by sending the photon into a crystal with a strong laser shining through it, a process that tends to be inefficient and noisy. Phase modulation, in which photon wave’s oscillation is accelerated or slowed down to change the photon’s frequency, offers a more efficient method, but the device required for such a process, an electro-optic phase modulator, has proven difficult to integrate on a chip.

One material may be uniquely suited for such an application — thin-film lithium niobate.

“In our work, we adopted a new modulator design on thin-film lithium niobate that significantly improved the device performance,” said Marko Lončar, the Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering at SEAS and senior author of the study. “With this integrated modulator, we achieved record-high terahertz frequency shifts of single photons.”

The team also used the same modulator as a “time lens”— a magnifying glass that bends light in time instead of space — to change the spectral shape of a photon from fat to skinny.

“Our device is much more compact and energy-efficient than traditional bulk devices,” said Di Zhu, the first author of the paper. “It can be integrated with a wide range of classical and quantum devices on the same chip to realize more sophisticated quantum light control.”

Di is a former postdoctoral fellow at SEAS and is currently a research scientist at the Agency for Science, Research and Technology (A*STAR) in Singapore.

Next, the team aims to use the device to control the frequency and bandwidth of quantum emitters for applications in quantum networks.

The research was a collaboration between Harvard, MIT, HyperLight, and A*STAR.

The paper was co-authored by Changchen Chen, Mengjie Yu, Linbo Shao, Yaowen Hu, C. J. Xin, Matthew Yeh, Soumya Ghosh, Lingyan He, Christian Reimer, Neil Sinclair, Franco N. C. Wong, and Mian Zhang.

This research was funded by the Harvard Quantum Initiative (HQI), Army Research Office/Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) (W911NF2010248), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (FA9550-20-1-01015), DARPA Lasers for Universal Microscale Optical Systems (HR0011-20-C-0137), Department of Energy (DE-SC0020376), National Science Foundation (EEC-1941583), Air Force Research Laboratory (FA9550-21-1-0056), HQI post-doctoral fellowship, A*STAR SERC Central Research Fund (CRF), and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

PIC International to return to Brussels – bigger and better than ever!


The leading global integrated photonics conference and exhibition will once again bring together key players from across the value chain for two-days of strategic technical sessions, dynamic talks and unrivalled networking opportunities.


Join us face-to-face on 18-19 April 2023

  • View the agenda.
  • 3 for the price of 1. Register your place and gain complementary access to TWO FURTHER industry leading conferences: CS International and Power Electronics International.
  • Email info@picinternational.net  or call +44 (0)24 7671 8970 for more details.

Register

Picocom and Antevia collaborate on 5G in-building solutions
Fast, narrow-linewidth tunable laser is a first
Luceda Photonics and Spark Photonics announce partnership
Imec demonstrates co-integration of high-quality SiN waveguide technology with silicon photonics platform
Toptica acquires Azurlight Systems
CEA-Leti Will Highlight Progress on Key Augmented Reality Building Blocks
Trumpf Venture invests in quantum startup
Trumpf to show latest lasers at Photonics West 2023
OpenLight appoints Adam Carter as CEO
Dutch consortium invests €3.5M in LioniX
POET releases optical engines for 100G, 200G and 400G
Thorlabs to acquire JML Optical
Vector appoints factory applications engineer
Trumpf expands VCSEL portfolio
Needle-free blood glucose monitoring
Vector Photonics appoints Peter Linton to drive PCSEL design
Closing the 'terahertz gap'
LioniX International Secures €3.5M Investment
Novel laser can transmit 200Gbps over 10km
III-V Lab counts on Riber MBE
US centre to tackle processor energy efficiency
High-performance Visible-light Lasers that Fit on a Fingertip
ANELLO Photonics Announce Silicon Photonics Optical Gyroscope
FBH presents latest light sources at Photonics West 2023
NIST and AIM team up on photonics chips
OpenLight unveils 800G DR8 PIC design to advance datacenter Interconnect industry
Characterisation of VCSELs, µLEDs and AR/VR displays
Vector Photonics fast-tracks PCSEL commercialisation
Changing the color of quantum light on an integrated chip
Jenoptik receives Thuringia Innovation Award 2022 for opto-electronic UFO Probe®Card
Silicon photonics is driven by data center applications
Scantinel lands €10M for next gen LiDAR

×
Search the news archive

To close this popup you can press escape or click the close icon.
Logo
×
Logo
×
Register - Step 1

You may choose to subscribe to the PIC Magazine, the PIC Newsletter, or both. You may also request additional information if required, before submitting your application.


Please subscribe me to:

 

You chose the industry type of "Other"

Please enter the industry that you work in:
Please enter the industry that you work in: