Generation of entangled photons via parametric down-conversion in semiconductor lasers and integrated quantum photonic systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel, integrated GaSb-based laser system that efficiently generates entangled photons through intracavity parametric down-conversion, supported by a comprehensive quantum theory accounting for real-world waveguide effects.

Contribution

It develops a nonperturbative quantum theory for parametric down-conversion in dispersive, dissipative waveguides and extends it to quantized pump fields, enabling better design of integrated quantum photonic devices.

Findings

Provides analytic expressions for experimental interpretation.

Predicts high-brightness entangled photon generation.

Models effects of dispersion, dissipation, and noise.

Abstract

We propose and design a high-brightness, ultra-compact electrically pumped GaSb-based laser source of entangled photons generated by mode-matched intracavity parametric down-conversion of lasing modes. To describe the nonlinear mixing in highly dispersive and dissipative waveguides, we develop a nonperturbative quantum theory of parametric down-conversion of waveguide modes which takes into account the effects of modal dispersion, group and phase mismatch, propagation, dissipation, and coupling to noisy reservoirs. We extend our theory to the regime of quantized pump fields with a new approach based on the propagation equation for the state vector which solves the nonperturbative boundary-value problem of the parametric decay of a quantized single-photon pump mode and can be generalized to include the effects of dissipation and noise. Our formalism is applicable to a wide variety of three-wave mixing propagation problems. It provides convenient analytic expressions for interpreting experimental results and predicting the performance of monolithic quantum photonic systems.