Novel integrated devices based on nonlinear frequency generation: from classical to integrated quantum combs

by Roberto Morandotti (INRS-EMT - University of Quebec)

Friday 19 Dec 2014, 14:30 → 15:15 Europe/Rome

Aula Rasetti (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)

While the demand for bandwidth is still increasing, electronics is now approaching many fundamental limitations in speed. Very likely the next generation of processors will implement optical methods to transport the signal to different part of the chip. Hence photonics materials and optical integration strategies will have to meet the current CMOS technology and platform. Ultimately a number of optical functionalities will have to be realized in an all-optical way. In particular, future time-domain multiplexed optical networks will e! xploit stable pulsed sources exceeding hundreds GHz repetition rates, possibly based on passive mode locked lasers. We recently demonstrated that it is possible to obtain stable, high repetition mode-locked soliton emission, by using a nonlinear high-finesse filter, thus exploiting a novel interaction mechanism that we named Filter-Driven Four Wave Mixing (FD-FWM) and which extends the DFWM operating mechanism through the use of a highly nonlinear integrated micro-ring resonators. The same mechanism can be used for other interesting applications, including the possibility of realizing integrated multiplexed sources of heralded photons on a chip.