Sina Saravi

Resonantly Enhanced Second-Harmonic Generation Using III–V Semiconductor All-Dielectric Metasurfaces

Nonlinear optical phenomena in nanostructured materials have been challenging our perceptions of nonlinear optical processes that have been explored since the invention of lasers. For example, the ability to control optical field confinement, enhancement, and scattering almost independently allows nonlinear frequency conversion efficiencies to be enhanced by many orders of magnitude compared to bulk materials. Also, the subwavelength length scale renders phase matching issues irrelevant. Compared with plasmonic nanostructures, dielectric resonator metamaterials show great promise for enhanced nonlinear optical processes due to their larger mode volumes. Here, we present, for the first time, resonantly enhanced second-harmonic generation (SHG) using gallium arsenide (GaAs) based dielectric metasurfaces. Using arrays of cylindrical resonators we observe SHG enhancement factors as large as 10(4) relative to unpatterned GaAs. At the magnetic dipole resonance, we measure an absolute nonlinear conversion efficiency of ∼2 × 10(-5) with ∼3.4 GW/cm(2) pump intensity. The polarization properties of the SHG reveal that both bulk and surface nonlinearities play important roles in the observed nonlinear process.

Fabrication of nanoscale lithium niobate waveguides for second-harmonic generation

Nanoscale waveguides are basic building blocks of integrated optical devices. Especially, waveguides made from nonlinear optical materials, such as lithium niobate, allow access to a broad range of applications using second-order nonlinear frequency conversion processes. Based on a lithium niobate on insulator substrate, millimeter-long nanoscale waveguides were fabricated with widths as small as 200 nm. The fabrication was done by means of potassium hydroxide-assisted ion-beam-enhanced etching. The waveguides were optically characterized in the near infrared wavelength range showing phase-matched second-harmonic generation.

Generation of Counterpropagating Path-Entangled Photon Pairs in a Single Periodic Waveguide

We propose the use of nonlinear periodic waveguides for direct and fully integrated generation of counterpropagating photon pairs by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Using the unique properties of Bloch modes in such periodic structures, we furthermore show that two counterpropagating phase-matching conditions can be fulfilled simultaneously, allowing for the generation of path-entangled Bell states in a single periodic waveguide. To demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal, we design a photonic crystal slab waveguide made of lithium niobate and numerically demonstrate Bell-state generation.

Atom-mediated spontaneous parametric down-conversion in periodic waveguides

We propose the concept of atom-mediated spontaneous parametric down-conversion, in which photon-pair generation can take place only in the presence of a single two-level emitter, relying on the bandgap evanescent modes of a nonlinear periodic waveguide. Using a guided signal mode, an evanescent idler mode, and an atom-like emitter with the idlers transition frequency embedded in the structure, we find a heralded excitation mechanism, in which the detection of a signal photon outside the structure heralds the excitation of the embedded emitter. We use a rigorous Greens function quantization method to model this heralding mechanism in a 1D periodic waveguide and determine its robustness against losses.

Effect of loss on slow-light-enhanced second harmonic generation in periodic nanostructures

We analyze, analytically and through nonlinear simulations, the dependence of SHG efficiency on the group index in lossy periodic structures, and find that the optimal efficiency is reached for finite values of the group index.

How Useful Is Slow Light in Enhancing Nonlinear Interactions in Lossy Periodic Nanostructures

We investigate analytically, and with nonlinear simulations, the extent of usefulness of slow light for enhancing the efficiency of second harmonic generation in lossy nanostructures, and find that the slower is not always the better.

Effect of loss on slow-light-enhanced second-harmonic generation in periodic nanostructures

We analyze, analytically and through nonlinear simulations, the dependence of SHG efficiency on the group index in lossy periodic structures, and find that the optimal efficiency is reached for finite values of the group index.