Photon-pair generation in a heterogeneous silicon photonic chip

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates efficient photon-pair generation and routing in a heterogeneous silicon photonic chip, combining high nonlinearity and low losses to advance quantum photonic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a heterogeneous silicon platform integrating amorphous silicon and silicon nitride for high-quality photon pair generation and routing, surpassing previous homogeneous designs.

Findings

Record high coincidence- to- accidental rate of 1632.6

Photon pair generation rate of 1.94 MHz

Low $g^{(2)}_H(0)$ of 0.1085 for heralded single photons

Abstract

Integrated Silicon photonics has played an important role in advancing the applications of quantum information and quantum science. However, due to different material properties, it is challenging to integrate all components with excellent performance based on homogeneous material. Here, by combining high nonlinearity and low losses in a heterogeneous silicon platform, we efficiently generate high-quality photon pairs through spontaneous four-wave mixing in hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguide and route them off-chip through low loss silicon nitride waveguide. A record high coincidence- to- accidental rate value of 1632.6 ($\pm$ 260.4) is achieved in this heterogeneous design with a photon pair generation rate of 1.94 MHz. We also showcase a wide range of multi-channel photon sources with coincidence- to- accidental rate consistently at 200. Lastly, we measure heralded single-photons with a lowest $g^{(2)}_H(0)$ of 0.1085 $\pm$ 0.0014. Our results demonstrate the heterogeneous silicon platform as an ideal platform for efficient generation of photon pairs and routing them off-chip with low losses. It also paves a way for the future hybrid photonic integrated circuit by collecting distinct features from different materials.