Philip Battle

Spontaneous parametric down-conversion in periodically poled KTP waveguides and bulk crystals

We present a theoretical and experimental comparison of spontaneous parametric down-conversion in periodically poled waveguides and bulk KTP crystals. We measured a waveguide pair generation rate of 2.9.10(6) pairs/s per mWof pump in a 1-nm band: more than 50 times higher than the bulk crystal generation rate.

High performance photon-pair source based on a fiber-coupled periodically poled KTiOPO4 waveguide.

We demonstrate efficient generation of photon pairs at 1316 nm in a fiber-coupled type-II phase-matched Rb-indiffused waveguide in periodically poled KTiOPO(4). The integrated waveguide source has a pair production rate of 2 x 10(7)/s/mW in a 1.08-nm bandwidth, in good agreement with a theoretical model that takes into account the transversal momentum imparted on the phase matching function by the waveguide. We achieve a Hong-Ou-Mandel quantum-interference visibility of 98.2% after subtraction of accidental coincidences, representing the highest reported value for a waveguide-based photon-pair source.

Highly efficient blue-light generation from a compact, diode-pumped femtosecond laser by use of a periodically poled KTP waveguide crystal

We present a simplified, potentially portable, and highly efficient blue-light source from a periodically poled KTP waveguide crystal with a compact femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser. This light source generates 5.6 mW of blue average output power at 424 nm with 27 mW of incident fundamental in a single-pass extracavity arrangement at room temperature. The overall system efficiency of electrical power to blue light is 0.5%, and the internal second-harmonic generation conversion efficiency is as high as 37%. The slope efficiency of 5.5% pJ(-1) at low pulse energies is, to our knowledge, the highest slope efficiency yet reported for frequency conversion into the blue spectral region.

High-quality fiber-optic polarization entanglement distribution at 1.3 μm telecom wavelength

We demonstrate high-quality distribution of 1.3 microm polarization-entangled photons generated from a fiber-coupled periodically poled KTiOPO(4) waveguide over 200 m fiber-optic cables. Time-multiplexed measurements with a 19% efficient superconducting nanowire single-photon detector at the remote location show a detected flux of 5.8 pairs/s at a pump power of 25 microW and an average two-photon quantum-interference visibility of 97.7% without subtraction of accidentals.

Efficient frequency doubling of a pulsed laser diode by use of a periodically poled KTP waveguide crystal with Bragg gratings

Blue light with an average power of as much as 7.5 mW in picosecond pulses has been generated at 486, 488, and 491 nm from a frequency-doubled, nonresonant injection seeded, gain-switched InGaAs/GaAs diode laser by use of a periodically poled KTP waveguide crystal that incorporates a Bragg grating section.

Efficient generation of green and UV light in a single PP-KTP waveguide pumped by a compact all-fiber system

We present simultaneous efficient second- (SHG) and third-harmonic generation (THG) in a single periodically-poled KTP waveguided crystal pumped by a compact femtosecond Yb-based laser in a condition of exactly phase-matched frequency doubling and nonphase-matched sum-frequency mixing processes. Internal conversion efficiency as high as 33% for SHG (532nm) and ∼2% for the cascaded THG (355nm) is reported. We believe this to be a clear experimental demonstration that strong third-harmonic can be generated in frequency doubling crystals through a nonphase-matched sum-frequency mixing process.

Guided wave optics in periodically poled KTP: quadratic nonlinearity and prospects for attosecond jitter characterization

For the first time to our knowledge, continuous nonsegmented channel waveguides in periodically poled KTiOPO(4) with guided orthogonal polarizations are used to demonstrate type II background-free second harmonic generation in the telecom band with 1.6%/(W cm(2)) normalized conversion efficiency. This constitutes a 90-fold improvement in aggregate conversion efficiency over its free space counterpart. Simulations show that the guided wave device should enable the measurement of timing fluctuations of optical pulse trains at the attosecond level in an optical cross correlation scheme.

Portable ultrafast blue light sources designed with frequency doubling in KTP and KNbO/sub 3/

We demonstrate an effective means of achieving compact, truly portable, and entirely self-contained ultrafast blue light sources. Using a variety of nonlinear media to achieve simple second-harmonic generation of a femtosecond Cr:LiSAF laser, we investigate the relative merits of aperiodically poled bulk and waveguide nonlinear crystals in comparison to periodically poled structures. Such a compact and convenient source of ultrashort laser pulses in the blue spectral region could be of great interest for on-site applications spanning a host of disciplines, such as biomedical imaging, optical micromanipulation, and high-resolution spectroscopy.

Broadband amplitude squeezing in a periodically poled KTiOPO4 waveguide.

We generated -2.2 dB of broadband amplitude squeezing at 1064 nm in a periodically poled KTiOPO4 (PPKTP) waveguide by coupling of the fundamental and second-harmonic cw fields. This is the largest amount of squeezing obtained to date in a KTP waveguide, limited by propagation losses. This result paves the way for further improvements by use of lower-loss buried ion-exchanged waveguides.

Generation of 250 mW narrowband pulsed ultraviolet light by frequency quadrupling of an amplified erbium-doped fiber laser

We demonstrate a high-power, narrowband pulsed source at 390 nm by two stages of frequency doubling in periodically poled MgO:LiNbO(3) and periodically poled KTiOPO(4) of an amplified, passively mode-locked fiber laser. With a frequency quadrupling efficiency of 5.5% and a 0.1 nm bandwidth, the 250 mW ultraviolet source is a suitable compact pump source for many entanglement-based quantum information processing tasks.