Low threshold integrated optical parametric oscillator with a compact Bragg resonator

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a low-threshold, compact integrated optical parametric oscillator on lithium niobate with phase-bistable operation, suitable for scalable optical computing and Ising machine applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Fabry-Pérot cavity design achieving the lowest threshold among double-resonant OPOs, enabling phase bistability and reduced device footprint.

Findings

Threshold of 2.5 mW for parametric oscillation

Device operates at degeneracy for phase bistability

Footprint reduced by a factor of 10 compared to ring resonators

Abstract

Optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) have been studied as basic components for optical computing with phase encoding and Ising machines. Integrated photonics offers a scalable solution to incorporate a progressively larger number of devices towards a functional computing module. Among the available platforms, lithium niobate on insulator is an excellent candidate for this goal thanks to its large second order nonlinearity, which can be leveraged via periodic poling of the thin film. In this work, we show a device with a 2.5 mW threshold for parametric oscillation, which is the lowest reported to date among double-resonant OPOs. We use a novel configuration with a Fabry-P\'erot cavity, which reduces the footprint compared to a typical ring resonator by a factor 10. Tuning our devices using pump wavelength and local heating, we can operate the oscillators at degeneracy, which is crucial for logical operations requiring phase bistability. Our results showcase the device as an ideal building block for phase-encoded integrated optical computing, enabling spatial multiplexing with reduced footprint and power consumption.