Photonic integrated ultra-broadband nonlinear optical amplifiers and quantum light sources

The PHOTONS project focuses on developing photonic integrated circuits that guide light instead of electronic circuits on minituarized semiconductor chips. Using emerging thin-film ferroelectric materials like lithium niobate (LN) and lithium tantalate (LT) and advanced optical integration methods, we aim to design and realize novel ultra-broadband, compact and efficient nonlinear optical amplifiers and quantum light sources We aim to overcome limitations of current technologies by exploring new nanofabrication methods and hybrid laser integration, enabling applications in optical communication, quantum light sources, and spectroscopy. The strong second-order nonlinearity (?(2)) and excellent damage threshold and optical birefringence and dispersion characteristics of LN and LT opens up the possibility to convert, amplify, and process a wide bandwidth of optical frequencies enabled by controlling the flow of light in the optical waveguide We will develop advanced nanofabrication technologies and device concepts to achieve continuous-wave operation of ferroelectric optical nanowaveguides that to date require pulsed pump laser sources that are incompatible or impractical with many real-world applications like long range optical data communication that require continuous and interrupted operation of the optical amplifiers. In addition, we aim to exploit the same material and integration technologies to design quantum light sources via spontaneous generation of entangled photon pairs in the nonlinear waveguide. Such quantum light sources may become important drivers of future optical metrology, sensing, and medical imaging technologies.

The project focuses on developing photonic integrated circuits using thin-film ferroelectric materials like lithium niobate (LN) and lithium tantalate (LT) to create ultra-broadband nonlinear optical amplifiers and quantum light sources. We aim to overcome limitations of current technologies by exploring new nanofabrication methods and hybrid laser integration, enabling applications in optical communication, quantum light sources, and spectroscopy. The strong second-order nonlinearity (?(2)) and excellent damage threshold and optical birefringence and dispersion characteristics of LN and LT opens up the possibility to convert, amplify, and process a wide bandwidth of optical frequencies enabled by advanced dispersion engineering techniques. We will develop advanced nanofabrication technologies and device concepts to achieve continuous-wave operation of ferroelectric optical nanowaveguides that to date require pulsed pump laser sources that are incompatible or impractical with many real-world applications that require continuous-wave operation. Continuous-wave operation, high efficiency and low power operation unlocks the possibility to co-integrate optical pump lasers and optical waveguides using hybrid integration techniques with compact semiconductor light sources. This novel technology and methodology enables to develop novel light sources for classical applications such as optical amplification and quantum applications such as optical squeezing and entanglement.