An optical arrangement for enlarging spectral bandwidths by nonlinear self-phase modulation for shortening ultrashort pulses using a multipass cell and a nonlinear medium. The nonlinear medium is arranged within the multipass cell, and a laser beam having ultrashort pulses passes through the nonlinear medium multiple times. The laser beam is coupled into the multipass cell by way of a shaping optical unit. The laser beam is shaped into an astigmatic beam and coupled into the multipass cell by way of the shaping optical unit.

A laser system is configured to form at least one laser induced channel in a substrate and includes a laser and a laser path. The laser produces a laser beam, and the laser path includes an optical assembly that receives the laser beam and emits a conditioned laser beam. The optical assembly is configured to emit the conditioned laser beam with a substantially uniform focal energy distribution in a focal region defined along the direction of propagation. An apparatus includes a laser induced channel edge with a plurality of laser induced channels spanning some or all of the thickness of the substrate, which can be greater than 4 mm.

The present invention provides an efficient quantum memory for storing a quantum state of light, such as a photon, for a temporary period of time in a fibre-integrated optical cavity and then recall the quantum state of light and quantum information at a later time with a high probability of success. The present invention uses a nonlinear optical switching mechanism to modify at least one property of the quantum light, or cavity, to trap the quantum light in the optical cavity. Subsequent application of the nonlinear optical switching mechanism switches at least one property of the stored quantum light, or cavity, to release the quantum light from the optical cavity. The present invention also provides quasi-deterministic single-photon generation by temporal multiplexing of a photon pair source integrated within the cavity.

A method and system that harnesses extremely weak Kerr-type nonlinearities in a single driven cavity to deterministically generate single photon Fock states, and more general photon-blockaded states are disclosed. The disclosed scheme is effective even for nonlinearities that are much smaller than photonic loss in the cavity. The disclosed scheme generates photon-blockade states that are non-Gaussian, exhibit a sharp cut-off in their photon number distribution, and can be arbitrarily close to, for example, a single-photon Fock state. This scheme relies only standard linear and parametric drives, and are hence compatible with a variety of different photonic platforms.

This invention provides a pulse shaping technique that can yield a pulsed laser having a smaller energy fluctuation than that of a conventional pulse shaping technique using one or two non-linear optical crystals. A pulse shaping device includes: a non-linear optical crystal group including at least three non-linear optical crystals arranged side by side on an optical path of an input pulsed laser.

A photonic system is described that includes an optical cavity with nonlinear optical characteristics and two or more counter-propagating lasers configured to inject coherent light into the cavity at different frequencies to be locked to the corresponding cavity modes to achieve phase matching for four-wave mixing process. The cavity, the lasers, and the lock mechanism are configured to correlate the optical properties of the coherent light wherein the correlation is a classical correlation and/or quantum correlation. Thus, in the photonic system, quantum fluctuations of the two or more lasers can be correlated. The correlation results from the generation of an optical frequency harmonics coincident with the frequencies of the lasers along with simultaneous optical coupling of the lasers and corresponding harmonics. As a result of the coupling, the quantum noise of the lasers is correlated so the frequency noise of the individual lasers can be below the fundamental Schawlow-Townes limit.

A fundamental new effect in nonlinear photonic systems is disclosed herein, called n-photon bound states in the continuum, which can be applied to deterministically create large Fock states, as well as very highly intensity-squeezed states of light. The effect is one in which destructive interference gives a certain quantum state of light an infinite lifetime, despite coexisting in frequency with a radiative continuum. For Kerr nonlinear systems, that state is an n-photon (Fock) state of a particular and tunable n. Experimentally-realizable examples are shown which are capable of producing n-photon Fock states, and states with very large intensity squeezing, such as greater than 10 dB. The effect requires only Kerr nonlinearity and linear frequency-dependent (non-Markovian) dissipation, and is, in principle, applicable at any frequency. The theory and concepts are also immediately applicable to nonlinear bosons besides photons, and thus may be implemented in many other disciplines.

It is provided a method for generating a supercontinuum, the method comprising the following steps: a) radiating a carrier laser pulse having a first temporal width onto a first non-linear material; b) at the same time, radiating a second shorter laser pulse having a second temporal width onto the first non-linear material, thereby changing the non-linear properties of the first non-linear material and imprinting a ghost pulse having a third temporal width into the carrier pulse; the second temporal width being at least two times shorter than the first temporal width, and c) radiating the carrier pulse with imprinted ghost pulse onto the first non-linear material or a second non-linear material and generating, by self-phase modulating, a supercontinuum around the center frequency of the carrier pulse.

A laser system includes a laser radiation source for providing pulsed laser radiation, and an optical system that includes a first polarization setting optical unit configured to set a circular polarization state of the pulsed laser radiation and a multipass cell having at least two mirrors. The pulsed laser radiation passes through the multipass cell with formation of a plurality of intermediate focus zones. The multipass cell is filled with a filling gas that has an optical nonlinearity and causes a spectral broadening of the pulsed laser radiation in the intermediate focus zones. A pressure of the filling gas is set in a pressure range so that there is an ionization behavior of the filling gas in a form of multiphoton ionization. Focus diameters of the intermediate focus zones are set such that the pulsed laser radiation passes through the multipass cell without ionization of the filling gas.

An apparatus comprises: a first layer of a first semiconductor material, wherein the first layer is substantially coplanar to a first plane, the first layer comprising first and second regions having p-type and n-type dopants mixed within the first semiconductor material, a third region adjacent to portions of the first and second regions, and an optical waveguiding structure configured to guide an optical wave, wherein a portion of the optical waveguiding structure is formed in the portion of the third region; a strain-inducing structure comprising one or more layers including a first strain-inducing layer comprising an alloy of silicon and germanium, where the first strain-inducing layer is configured to provide a strain to a portion of the first semiconductor material of the optical waveguiding structure; and a voltage source configured to apply a direct current electric field between the first and second regions.