Generation of correlated photons in nanoscale silicon waveguides

Jay E. Sharping*, Kim Fook Lee, Mark A. Foster, Amy C. Turner, Bradley S. Schmidt, Michal Lipson, Alexander L. Gaeta, Prem Kumar

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

363 Scopus citations

Abstract

We experimentally study the generation of correlated pairs of photons through four-wave mixing (FWM) in embedded silicon waveguides. The waveguides, which are designed to exhibit anomalous group-velocity dispersion at wavelengths near 1555 nm, allow phase matched FWM and thus efficient pair-wise generation of non-degenerate signal and idler photons. Photon counting measurements yield a coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) of around 25 for a signal (idler) photon production rate of about 0.05 per pulse. We characterize the variation in CAR as a function of pump power and pump-to-sideband wavelength detuning. These measurements represent a first step towards the development of tools for quantum information processing which are based on CMOS-compatible, silicon-on-insulator technology.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)12388-12393
Number of pages6
JournalOptics Express
Volume14
Issue number25
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 11 2006

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics

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