@article{64662, abstract = {{ In this study, we investigate the impact of chromium-induced point defects on the nonlinear optical properties and electric-field-induced second harmonic generation (EFISH) in rutile titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ). Chromium thin films were deposited by electron beam evaporation on (001)-oriented bulk TiO 2 substrates and subsequently diffused into the lattice in a tube furnace under a nitrogen atmosphere at 900 °C. The introduction of chromium significantly enhanced the third harmonic generation (THG) of a 1560 nm laser, with an amplification factor of up to 8.3, indicative of an enhanced third-order nonlinear susceptibility, χ (3) . Moreover, the application of an external voltage induced a pronounced EFISH signal in the chromium-doped samples, further confirming the enhanced nonlinear response. These results demonstrate that defect engineering via chromium doping in rutile TiO 2 offers a promising pathway for the development of high-performance nonlinear optical devices. }}, author = {{Brinkmann, Marius and Meier, Falco and Spedt, Vladimir and Meier, Cedrik}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, number = {{26}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Boosting third-order nonlinearities in rutile TiO2 by chromium doping}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.572063}}, volume = {{33}}, year = {{2025}}, } @article{62286, abstract = {{Optical tweezer arrays of laser-cooled and individually controlled particles have revolutionized atomic, molecular, and optical physics. They afford exquisite capabilities for applications in quantum simulation of many-body physics, quantum computation, and sensing. Underlying this development is the technical maturity of generating scalable optical beams, enabled by active components and a high numerical aperture objective. However, such a complex combination of bulk optics outside the vacuum chamber is very sensitive to any vibration and drift. Here, we demonstrate the generation of a 3 × 3 static tweezer array with a single chip-scale multifunctional metasurface element in vacuum, replacing the meter-long free space optics. Fluorescence counts on the camera validate the successful trapping of the atomic ensemble array and showcase a promising strategy for integrated photonics with cold atom systems. The introduction of a polarization independent dual-wavelength metasurface significantly enhances fluorescence collection efficiency while reducing experimental complexity. This approach paves the way for scalable neutral atom platforms and offers a compelling route towards the realization of next generation quantum metasurfaces.}}, author = {{Li, Donghao and Liao, Qiming and Xu, Beining and Zentgraf, Thomas and Narvaez Castaneda, Emmanuel and Zhou, Yaoting and Qin, Keyu and Xu, Zhongxiao and Shen, Heng and Huang, Lingling}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, number = {{24}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{In vacuum metasurface for optical microtrap array}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.580201}}, volume = {{33}}, year = {{2025}}, } @article{62269, abstract = {{The titanium in-diffused lithium niobate waveguide platform is well-established for reliable prototyping and packaging of many quantum photonic components at room temperature. Nevertheless, compatibility with certain quantum light sources and superconducting detectors requires operation under cryogenic conditions. We characterize alterations in phase-matching and mode guiding of a non-degenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion process emitting around 1556 nm and 950 nm, under cryogenic conditions. Despite the effects of pyroelectricity and photorefraction, the spectral properties match our theoretical model. Nevertheless, these effects cause small but significant variations within and between cooling cycles. These measurements provide a first benchmark against which other nonlinear photonic integration platforms, such as thin-film lithium niobate, can be compared.}}, author = {{Lange, Nina Amelie and Lengeling, Sebastian and Mues, Philipp and Quiring, Viktor and Ridder, Werner and Eigner, Christof and Herrmann, Harald and Silberhorn, Christine and Bartley, Tim}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, number = {{24}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Widely non-degenerate nonlinear frequency conversion in cryogenic titanium in-diffused lithium niobate waveguides}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.578108}}, volume = {{33}}, year = {{2025}}, } @article{63091, abstract = {{We present the design and characterization of a guided-wave, bright, and highly frequency non-degenerate parametric down-conversion (PDC) source in thin-film lithium niobate. The source generates photon pairs with wavelengths of 815 nm and 1550 nm, linking the visible wavelength regime with telecommunication wavelengths. We confirm the high quality of the generated single photons by determining a value for the heralded second-order correlation function as low as g_h^(2)=(6.7+/-1.1)*10^8-3). Furthermore, we achieve a high spectral brightness of 0.44·10pairs/(smWGHz) which is two orders of magnitude higher than sources based on weakly guiding waveguides. The shape of the PDC spectrum and the strong agreement between the effective and nominal bandwidth highlight our high fabrication quality of periodically poled waveguides. The good agreement between the measured and simulated spectral characteristics of our source demonstrates our excellent understanding of the PDC process. Our result is a valuable step towards practical and scalable quantum communication networks as well as photonic quantum computing.}}, author = {{Babel, Silia and Bollmers, Laura and Roeder, Franz and Ridder, Werner and Golla, Christian and Köthemann, Ronja and Reineke, Bernhard and Herrmann, Harald and Brecht, Benjamin and Eigner, Christof and Padberg, Laura and Silberhorn, Christine}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, number = {{25}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Ultrabright, two-color photon pair source based on thin-film lithium niobate for bridging visible and telecom wavelengths}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.571605}}, volume = {{33}}, year = {{2025}}, } @article{51339, author = {{Babai-Hemati, Jonas and vom Bruch, Felix and Herrmann, Harald and Silberhorn, Christine}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Tailored second harmonic generation inTi-diffused PPLN waveguides usingmicro-heaters}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.510319}}, year = {{2024}}, } @article{55264, abstract = {{Tunneling ionization is a crucial process in the interaction between strong laser fields and matter which initiates numerous nonlinear phenomena including high-order harmonic generation, photoelectron holography, etc. Both adiabatic and nonadiabatic tunneling ionization are well understood in atomic systems. However, the tunneling dynamics in solids, especially nonadiabatic tunneling, has not yet been fully understood. Here, we study the sub-cycle resolved strong-field tunneling dynamics in solids via a complex saddle-point method. We compare the instantaneous momentum at the moment of tunneling and the tunneling distances over a range of Keldysh parameters. Our results demonstrate that for nonadiabatic tunneling, tunneling ionization away from Γ point is possible. When this happens the electron has a nonzero initial velocity when it emerges in the conduction band. Moreover, consistent with atomic tunneling, a reduced tunneling distance as compared to the quasi-static case is found. Our results provide remarkable insight into the basic physics governing the sub-cycle electron tunneling dynamics with significant implications for understanding subsequent strong-field nonlinear phenomena in solids.}}, author = {{Yang, Shidong and Liu, Xiwang and Zhang, Hongdan and Song, Xiaohong and Zuo, Ruixin and Meier, Torsten and Yang, Weifeng}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, number = {{9}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Sub-cycle strong-field tunneling dynamics in solids}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.521207}}, volume = {{32}}, year = {{2024}}, } @article{54668, abstract = {{Samples of dielectric optical waveguides of rib or strip type in thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) technology are characterized with respect to their optical loss using the Fabry-Pérot method. Attributing the losses mainly to sidewall roughness, we employ a simple perturbational procedure, based on rigorously computed mode profiles of idealized channels, to estimate the attenuation for waveguides with different cross sections. A single fit parameter suffices for an adequate modelling of the effect of the waveguide geometry on the loss levels.}}, author = {{Hammer, Manfred and Babel, Silia and Farheen, Henna and Padberg, Laura and Scheytt, J. Christoph and Silberhorn, Christine and Förstner, Jens}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{tet_topic_waveguide}}, number = {{13}}, pages = {{22878}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Estimation of losses caused by sidewall roughness in thin-film lithium niobate rib and strip waveguides}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.521766}}, volume = {{32}}, year = {{2024}}, } @article{64550, author = {{Zens, Leon and Besaga, Vira and Möller, Jens and Gerhardt, Nils Christopher and Hofmann, Martin}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Holographic measurement of gain and linewidth enhancement factor in semiconductor waveguides}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.538741}}, year = {{2024}}, } @article{64549, author = {{Zens, Leon and Besaga, Vira and Möller, Jens and Gerhardt, Nils Christopher and Hofmann, Martin}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Holographic measurement of gain and linewidth enhancement factor in semiconductor waveguides}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.538741}}, year = {{2024}}, } @article{63216, abstract = {{The characterization of the complex spectral amplitude, that is, the spectrum and spectral phase, of single-photon-level light fields is a crucial capability for modern photonic quantum technologies. Since established pulse characterization techniques are not applicable at low intensities, alternative approaches are required. Here, we demonstrate the retrieval of the complex spectral amplitude of single-photon-level light pulses through measuring their chronocyclic Q −function. Our approach draws inspiration from quantum state tomography by exploiting the analogy between quadrature phase space and time-frequency phase space. In the experiment, we perform time-frequency projections with a quantum pulse gate (QPG), which directly yield the chronocyclic Q −function. We evaluate the complex spectral amplitude from the measured chronocyclic Q −function data with maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), which is the established technique for quantum state tomography. The MLE yields not only an unambigious estimate of the complex spectral amplitude of the state under test that does not require any a priori information, but also allows for, in principle, estimating the spectral-temporal coherence properties of the state. Our method accurately recovers features such as jumps in the spectral phase and is resistant against regions with zero spectral intensity, which makes it immediately beneficial for classical pulse characterization problems.}}, author = {{Bhattacharjee, Abhinandan and Folge, Patrick Fabian and Serino, Laura Maria and Řeháček, Jaroslav and Hradil, Zdeněk and Silberhorn, Christine and Brecht, Benjamin}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, number = {{3}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Pulse characterization at the single-photon level through chronocyclic Q-function measurements}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.540125}}, volume = {{33}}, year = {{2024}}, } @article{63217, abstract = {{We demonstrate a high-dimensional mode-sorter for single photons based on a multi-output quantum pulse gate, which we can program to switch between different temporal-mode encodings including pulse modes, frequency bins, time bins, and their superpositions. This device can facilitate practical realizations of quantum information applications such as high-dimensional quantum key distribution and thus enables secure communication with enhanced information capacity. We characterize the mode-sorter through a detector tomography in 3 and 5 dimensions and find a fidelity up to 0.958 ± 0.030 at the single-photon level.}}, author = {{Serino, Laura Maria and Eigner, Christof and Brecht, Benjamin and Silberhorn, Christine}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, number = {{3}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Programmable time-frequency mode-sorting of single photons with a multi-output quantum pulse gate}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.544206}}, volume = {{33}}, year = {{2024}}, } @article{54815, abstract = {{Broadband quantum light is a vital resource for quantum metrology and spectroscopy applications such as quantum optical coherence tomography or entangled two photon absorption. For entangled two photon absorption in particular, very high photon flux combined with high time-frequency entanglement is crucial for observing a signal. So far these conditions could be met by using high power lasers driving degenerate, type 0 bulk-crystal spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) sources. This naturally limits the available wavelength ranges and precludes deterministic splitting of the generated output photons. In this work we demonstrate an integrated two-colour SPDC source utilising a group-velocity matched lithium niobate waveguide, reaching both exceptional brightness 1.52⋅106pairssmWGHz and large bandwidth (7.8 THz FWHM) while pumped with a few mW of continuous wave (CW) laser light. By converting a narrow band pump to broadband pulses the created photon pairs show correlation times of Δτ ≈ 120 fs while maintaining the narrow bandwidth Δω p  ≪ 1 MHz of the CW pump light, yielding strong time-frequency entanglement. Furthermore our process can be adapted to a wide range of central wavelengths.}}, author = {{Pollmann, René and Roeder, Franz and Quiring, Victor and Ricken, Raimund and Eigner, Christof and Brecht, Benjamin and Silberhorn, Christine}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, number = {{14}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Integrated, bright broadband, two-colour parametric down-conversion source}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.522549}}, volume = {{32}}, year = {{2024}}, } @article{48349, abstract = {{We report a titanium indiffused waveguide resonator featuring an integrated electro-optic modulator for cavity length stabilisation that produces close to 5 dB of squeezed light at 1550 nm (2.4 dB directly measured). The resonator is locked on resonance for tens of minutes with 70 mW of SH light incident on the cavity, demonstrating that photorefraction can be mitigated. Squeezed light production concurrent with cavity length stabilisation utilising the integrated EOM is demonstrated. The device demonstrates the suitability of this platform for squeezed light generation in network applications, where stabilisation to the reference field is typically necessary.}}, author = {{Stefszky, M. and vom Bruch, F. and Santandrea, M. and Ricken, R. and Quiring, V. and Eigner, C. and Herrmann, H and Silberhorn, C}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}}, number = {{21}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Lithium niobate waveguide squeezer with integrated cavity length stabilisation for network applications}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.498423}}, volume = {{31}}, year = {{2023}}, } @article{48399, abstract = {{Quantum photonic processing via electro-optic components typically requires electronic links across different operation environments, especially when interfacing cryogenic components such as superconducting single photon detectors with room-temperature control and readout electronics. However, readout and driving electronics can introduce detrimental parasitic effects. Here we show an all-optical control and readout of a superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD), completely electrically decoupled from room temperature electronics. We provide the operation power for the superconducting detector via a cryogenic photodiode, and readout single photon detection signals via a cryogenic electro-optic modulator in the same cryostat. This method opens the possibility for control and readout of superconducting circuits, and feedforward for photonic quantum computing.}}, author = {{Thiele, Frederik and Hummel, Thomas and McCaughan, Adam N. and Brockmeier, Julian and Protte, Maximilian and Quiring, Victor and Lengeling, Sebastian and Eigner, Christof and Silberhorn, Christine and Bartley, Tim}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}}, number = {{20}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{All optical operation of a superconducting photonic interface}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.492035}}, volume = {{31}}, year = {{2023}}, } @article{45704, abstract = {{Since high-order harmonic generation (HHG) from atoms depends sensitively on the polarization of the driving laser field, the polarization gating (PG) technique was developed and applied successfully to generate isolated attosecond pulses from atomic gases. The situation is, however, different in solid-state systems as it has been demonstrated that due to collisions with neighboring atomic cores of the crystal lattice strong HHG can be generated even by elliptically- and circularly-polarized laser fields. Here we apply PG to solid-state systems and find that the conventional PG technique is inefficient for the generation of isolated ultrashort harmonic pulse bursts. In contrast, we demonstrate that a polarization-skewed laser pulse is able to confine the harmonic emission to a time window of less than one-tenth of the laser cycle. This method provides a novel way to control HHG and to generate isolated attosecond pulses in solids.}}, author = {{Song, Xiaohong and Yang, Shidong and Wang, Guifang and Lin, Jianpeng and Wang, Liang and Meier, Torsten and Yang, Weifeng}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}}, number = {{12}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Control of the electron dynamics in solid-state high harmonic generation on ultrafast time scales by a polarization-skewed laser pulse}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.491418}}, volume = {{31}}, year = {{2023}}, } @article{45850, abstract = {{Interference between single photons is key for many quantum optics experiments and applications in quantum technologies, such as quantum communication or computation. It is advantageous to operate the systems at telecommunication wavelengths and to integrate the setups for these applications in order to improve stability, compactness and scalability. A new promising material platform for integrated quantum optics is lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI). Here, we realise Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference between telecom photons from an engineered parametric down-conversion source in an LNOI directional coupler. The coupler has been designed and fabricated in house and provides close to perfect balanced beam splitting. We obtain a raw HOM visibility of (93.5 ± 0.7) %, limited mainly by the source performance and in good agreement with off-chip measurements. This lays the foundation for more sophisticated quantum experiments in LNOI.}}, author = {{Babel, Silia and Bollmers, Laura and Massaro, Marcello and Luo, Kai Hong and Stefszky, Michael and Pegoraro, Federico and Held, Philip and Herrmann, Harald and Eigner, Christof and Brecht, Benjamin and Padberg, Laura and Silberhorn, Christine}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}}, number = {{14}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Demonstration of Hong-Ou-Mandel interference in an LNOI directional coupler}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.484126}}, volume = {{31}}, year = {{2023}}, } @article{46644, abstract = {{A reliable, but cost-effective generation of single-photon states is key for practical quantum communication systems. For real-world deployment, waveguide sources offer optimum compatibility with fiber networks and can be embedded in hybrid integrated modules. Here, we present what we believe to be the first chip-size fully integrated fiber-coupled heralded single photon source (HSPS) module based on a hybrid integration of a nonlinear lithium niobate waveguide into a polymer board. Photon pairs at 810 nm (signal) and 1550 nm (idler) are generated via parametric down-conversion pumped at 532 nm in the LiNbO3 waveguide. The pairs are split in the polymer board and routed to separate output ports. The module has a size of (2 × 1) cm^2 and is fully fiber-coupled with one pump input fiber and two output fibers. We measure a heralded second-order correlation function of g_h(2)=0.05 with a heralding efficiency of η_h=3.5% at low pump powers}}, author = {{Kießler, Christian and Conradi, Hauke and Kleinert, Moritz and Quiring, Viktor and Herrmann, Harald and Silberhorn, Christine}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}}, number = {{14}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Fiber-coupled plug-and-play heralded single photon source based on Ti:LiNbO3 and polymer technology}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.487581}}, volume = {{31}}, year = {{2023}}, } @article{36471, abstract = {{Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) show near unity efficiency, low dark count rate, and short recovery time. Combining these characteristics with temporal control of SNSPDs broadens their applications as in active de-latching for higher dynamic range counting or temporal filtering for pump-probe spectroscopy or LiDAR. To that end, we demonstrate active gating of an SNSPD with a minimum off-to-on rise time of 2.4 ns and a total gate length of 5.0 ns. We show how the rise time depends on the inductance of the detector in combination with the control electronics. The gate window is demonstrated to be fully and freely, electrically tunable up to 500 ns at a repetition rate of 1.0 MHz, as well as ungated, free-running operation. Control electronics to generate the gating are mounted on the 2.3 K stage of a closed-cycle sorption cryostat, while the detector is operated on the cold stage at 0.8 K. We show that the efficiency and timing jitter of the detector is not altered during the on-time of the gating window. We exploit gated operation to demonstrate a method to increase in the photon counting dynamic range by a factor 11.2, as well as temporal filtering of a strong pump in an emulated pump-probe experiment.}}, author = {{Hummel, Thomas and Widhalm, Alex and Höpker, Jan Philipp and Jöns, Klaus and Chang, Jin and Fognini, Andreas and Steinhauer, Stephan and Zwiller, Val and Zrenner, Artur and Bartley, Tim}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}}, number = {{1}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Nanosecond gating of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors using cryogenic bias circuitry}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.472058}}, volume = {{31}}, year = {{2023}}, } @article{29716, author = {{Widhalm, Alex and Golla, Christian and Weber, Nils and Mackwitz, Peter and Zrenner, Artur and Meier, Cedrik}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}}, number = {{4}}, publisher = {{The Optical Society}}, title = {{{Electric-field-induced second harmonic generation in silicon dioxide}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.443489}}, volume = {{30}}, year = {{2022}}, } @article{47980, abstract = {{Recently, ferroelectric domain walls (DWs) have attracted considerable attention due to their intrinsic topological effects and their huge potential for optoelectronic applications. In contrast, many of the underlying physical properties and phenomena are not well characterized. In this regard, analyzing the vibrational properties, e.g. by Raman spectroscopy, provides direct access to the various local material properties, such as strains, defects or electric fields. While the optical phonon spectra of DWs have been widely investigated in the past, no reports on the acoustic phonon properties of DWs exist. In this work, we present a joint Raman and Brillouin visualization of ferroelectric DWs in the model ferroelectric lithium niobate. This is possible by using a combined Raman and virtually imaged phased array Brillouin setup. Here, we show that DWs can be visualized via frequency shifts observed in the acoustic phonons, as well. The observed contrast then is qualitatively explained by models adapted from Raman spectroscopy. This work, hence, provides a novel route to study ferroelectric DWs and their intrinsic mechanical properties.}}, author = {{Rix, Jan and Rüsing, Michael and Galli, Roberta and Golde, Jonas and Reitzig, Sven and Eng, Lukas M. and Koch, Edmund}}, issn = {{1094-4087}}, journal = {{Optics Express}}, keywords = {{Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics}}, number = {{4}}, publisher = {{Optica Publishing Group}}, title = {{{Brillouin and Raman imaging of domain walls in periodically-poled 5%-MgO:LiNbO3}}}, doi = {{10.1364/oe.447554}}, volume = {{30}}, year = {{2022}}, }