Semiconductor Waveguide Source of Counterpropagating Twin Photons
L. Lanco, S. Ducci, J.-P. Likforman, X. Marcadet, J. A. W. van Houwelingen, Hugo Zbinden, Giuseppe Leo, V. Berger · Physical Review Letters · 2006
We experimentally demonstrate an integrated semiconductor source of counterpropagating twin photons in the telecom range. A pump beam impinging on top of an AlGaAs waveguide generates parametrically two counterpropagating, orthogonally polarized signal/idler guided modes. A 2 mm long waveguide emits at room temperature one average photon pair per pump pulse, with a spectral linewidth of 0.15 nm. The twin character of the emitted photons is ascertained through a time-correlation measurement. This work opens a route towards new guided-wave semiconductor quantum devices.