Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Abstract:  Photonic quantum technologies rely on sources of quantum light that are compact, scalable, and at the same time, allow engineering of the quantum state of light. The most versatile and scalable platform to generate quantum states of light is via nonlinear spontaneous parametric processes in integrated photonic devices, such as a ring resonator. Though a variety of quantum states of light have been generated using single-ring resonators, they usually suffer from very low efficiencies, offer limited ability to engineer quantum states of light, and their scalability is hindered due to fabrication-induced defects and disorders.

In this talk, I will describe a topologically robust platform to generate quantum states of light on a photonic chip. Specifically, I will show how the unique properties of topological edge states, implemented in a two-dimensional array of ring resonators, can be used to both, enhance, and engineer the generation of distinguishable energy-time entangled photon pairs in a robust manner. As another example, I will demonstrate the generation of indistinguishable photon pairs with tunable spectral-temporal correlations. I will also discuss the generation of high-efficiency topological optical frequency combs and nested solitons using edge states. Finally, I will outline the prospects of generating squeezed states and cluster states of light using frequency-time multiplexing.

Biography:  Sunil Mittal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Northeastern University. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland at College Park. Thereafter, he continued at Maryland as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Joint Quantum Institute. His research interests span quantum and nonlinear photonics, topological physics, and two-dimensional materials.

Location:  MIT Lincoln Laboratory Forbes Road