We demonstrate the coherent frequency conversion of structured light, optical beams in which the phase varies in each point of the transverse plane, from the near infrared (803nm) to the visible (527nm). The frequency conversion process makes use of
sum-frequency generation in a periodically poled lithium niobate (ppLN) crystal with the help of a 1540-nm Gaussian pump beam. We perform far-field intensity measurements of the frequency-converted field, and verify the sought-after transformation of the characteristic intensity and phase profiles for various input modes. The coherence of the frequency-conversion process is confirmed using a mode-projection technique with a phase mask and a single-mode fiber. The presented results could be of great relevance to novel applications in high-resolution microscopy and quantum information processing.
Fast modulation and switching of light at visible and near-infrared (vis-NIR) frequencies is of utmost importance for optical signal processing and sensing technologies. No fundamental limit appears to prevent us from designing wavelength-sized devic
es capable of controlling the light phase and intensity at gigaherts (and even terahertz) speeds in those spectral ranges. However, this problem remains largely unsolved, despite recent advances in the use of quantum wells and phase-change materials for that purpose. Here, we explore an alternative solution based upon the remarkable electro-optical properties of graphene. In particular, we predict unity-order changes in the transmission and absorption of vis-NIR light produced upon electrical doping of graphene sheets coupled to realistically engineered optical cavities. The light intensity is enhanced at the graphene plane, and so is its absorption, which can be switched and modulated via Pauli blocking through varying the level of doping. Specifically, we explore dielectric planar cavities operating under either tunneling or Fabry-Perot resonant transmission conditions, as well as Mie modes in silicon nanospheres and lattice resonances in metal particle arrays. Our simulations reveal absolute variations in transmission exceeding 90% as well as an extinction ratio >15 dB with small insertion losses using feasible material parameters, thus supporting the application of graphene in fast electro-optics at vis-NIR frequencies.
Signal state preparation in quantum key distribution schemes can be realized using either an active or a passive source. Passive sources might be valuable in some scenarios; for instance, in those experimental setups operating at high transmission ra
tes, since no externally driven element is required. Typical passive transmitters involve parametric down-conversion. More recently, it has been shown that phase-randomized coherent pulses also allow passive generation of decoy states and Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) polarization signals, though the combination of both setups in a single passive source is cumbersome. In this paper, we present a complete passive transmitter that prepares decoy-state BB84 signals using coherent light. Our method employs sum-frequency generation together with linear optical components and classical photodetectors. In the asymptotic limit of an infinite long experiment, the resulting secret key rate (per pulse) is comparable to the one delivered by an active decoy-state BB84 setup with an infinite number of decoy settings.
