No Arabic abstract
Optical parametric oscillators are widely-used pulsed and continuous-wave tunable sources for innumerable applications, as in quantum technologies, imaging and biophysics. A key drawback is material dispersion imposing the phase-matching condition that generally entails a complex setup design, thus hindering tunability and miniaturization. Here we show that the burden of phase-matching is surprisingly absent in parametric micro-resonators adopting monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides as quadratic nonlinear materials. By the exact solution of nonlinear Maxwell equations and first-principle calculation of the semiconductor nonlinear response, we devise a novel kind of phase-matching-free miniaturized parametric oscillator operating at conventional pump intensities. We find that different two-dimensional semiconductors yield degenerate and non-degenerate emission at various spectral regions thanks to doubly-resonant mode excitation, which can be tuned through the incidence angle of the external pump laser. In addition we show that high-frequency electrical modulation can be achieved by doping through electrical gating that efficiently shifts the parametric oscillation threshold. Our results pave the way for new ultra-fast tunable micron-sized sources of entangled photons, a key device underpinning any quantum protocol. Highly-miniaturized optical parametric oscillators may also be employed in lab-on-chip technologies for biophysics, environmental pollution detection and security.
Spectral behaviors of photonic resonators have been the basis for a range of fundamental studies, with applications in classical and quantum technologies. Driven nonlinear resonators provide a fertile ground for phenomena related to phase transitions far from equilibrium, which can open opportunities unattainable in their linear counterparts. Here, we show that optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) can undergo second-order phase transitions in the spectral domain between degenerate and non-degenerate regimes. This abrupt change in the spectral response follows a square-root dependence around the critical point, exhibiting high sensitivity to parameter variation akin to systems around an exceptional point. We experimentally demonstrate such a phase transition in a quadratic OPO, map its dynamics to the universal Swift-Hohenberg equation, and extend it to Kerr OPOs. To emphasize the fundamental importance and consequences of this phase transition, we show that the divergent susceptibility of the critical point is accompanied by spontaneous symmetry breaking and distinct phase noise properties in the two regimes, indicating the importance of a beyond nonlinear bifurcation interpretation. We also predict the occurrence of first-order spectral phase transitions in coupled OPOs. Our results on non-equilibrium spectral behaviors can be utilized for enhanced sensing, advanced computing, and quantum information processing.
Despite recent progress in nonlinear optics in wavelength-scale resonators, there are still open questions on the possibility of parametric oscillation in such resonators. We present a general approach to predict the behavior and estimate the oscillation threshold of multi-mode subwavelength and wavelength-scale optical parametric oscillators (OPOs). As an example, we propose an OPO based on Mie-type multipolar resonances, and we demonstrate that due to the low-Q nature of multipolar modes in wavelength-scale resonators, there is a nonlinear interaction between these modes. As a result, the OPO threshold, compared to the single-mode case, can be reduced by a factor that is significantly larger than the number of interacting modes. The multi-mode interaction can also lead to a phase transition manifested through a sudden change in the parametric gain as well as the oscillation threshold, which can be utilized for enhanced sensing. We establish an explicit connection between the second-harmonic generation efficiency and the OPO threshold. This allows us to estimate the OPO threshold based on measured or simulated second-harmonic generation in different classes of resonators, such as bound states in the continuum and inversely designed resonators. Our approach for analyzing and modeling miniaturized OPOs can open unprecedented opportunities for classical and quantum nonlinear photonics.
Coupled parametric oscillators were recently employed as simulators of artificial Ising networks, with the potential to solve computationally hard minimization problems. We demonstrate a new dynamical regime within the simplest network - two coupled parametric oscillators, where the oscillators never reach a steady state, but show persistent, full-scale, coherent beats, whose frequency reflects the coupling properties and strength. We present a detailed theoretical and experimental study and show that this new dynamical regime appears over a wide range of parameters near the oscillation threshold and depends on the nature of the coupling (dissipative or energy preserving). Thus, a system of coupled parametric oscillators transcends the Ising description and manifests unique coherent dynamics, which may have important implications for coherent computation machines.
Periodically driven parametric oscillators offer a convenient way to simulate classical Ising spins. When many parametric oscillators are coupled dissipatively, they can be analogous to networks of Ising spins, forming an effective coherent Ising machine (CIM) that efficiently solves computationally hard optimization problems. In the companion paper, we studied experimentally the minimal realization of a CIM, i.e. two coupled parametric oscillators [L. Bello, M. Calvanese Strinati, E. G. Dalla Torre, and A. Peer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 083901 (2019)]. We found that the presence of an energy-conserving coupling between the oscillators can dramatically change the dynamics, leading to everlasting beats, which transcend the Ising description. Here, we analyze this effect theoretically by solving numerically and, when possible, analytically the equations of motion of two parametric oscillators. Our main tools include: (i) a Floquet analysis of the linear equations, (ii) a multi-scale analysis based on a separation of time scales between the parametric oscillations and the beats, and (iii) the numerical identification of limit cycles and attractors. Using these tools, we fully determine the phase boundaries and critical exponents of the model, as a function of the intensity and the phase of the coupling and of the pump. Our study highlights the universal character of the phase diagram and its independence on the specific type of nonlinearity present in the system. Furthermore, we identify new phases of the model with more than two attractors, possibly describing a larger spin algebra.
A novel two-mode non-degenerate squeezed light is generated based on a four-wave mixing (4WM) process driven by two pump fields crossing at a small angle. By exchanging the roles of the pump beams and the probe and conjugate beams, we have demonstrated the frequency-degenerate two-mode squeezed light with separated spatial patterns. Different from a 4WM process driven by one pump field, the refractive index of the corresponding probe field $n_{p}$ can be converted to a value that is greater than $1$ or less than $1$ by an angle adjustment. In the new region with $n_{p}<1$, the bandwidth of the gain is relatively large due to the slow change in the refractive index with the two-photon detuning. As the bandwidth is important for the practical application of a quantum memory, the wide-bandwidth intensity-squeezed light fields provide new prospects for quantum memories.