A scalable quadratic nonlinear silicon photonics platform with printable entangled photon-pair sources
Abstract
The integration of second-order optical nonlinearities into scalable photonic platforms remains a key challenge due to their large sensitivity to fabrication variations. Here, we present a scalable quadratic nonlinear platform that harnesses the maturity and scalability of existing CMOS processes by heterogeneously integrating periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) onto a silicon photonics platform. A generic PPLN design enables frequency conversion on two distinct waveguide geometries with efficiencies comparable to LNOI rib waveguides. We achieve reproducible phase-matching across the full radius of a commercial 200 mm silicon photonics wafer, leveraging superior CMOS fabrication tolerances. Furthermore, we introduce a tuning mechanism for both blue- and red-shifting of the operating wavelength, fully compensating fabrication-induced offsets. This enables deterministic phase-matching over an entire wafer and yields a strategy for wafer-scale phase-matched quadratic nonlinearities. Finally, we realize printable photon-pair sources via spontaneous parametric down-conversion, highlighting the platform's potential for large-scale quantum optical circuits. These results pave the way for wafer-scale integration of second-order optical nonlinearities in large photonic systems.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2503.08783,
title = {A scalable quadratic nonlinear silicon photonics platform with printable entangled photon-pair sources},
author = {Tom Vandekerckhove and Jasper De Witte and Lisa De Jaeger and Ewoud Vissers and Sofie Janssen and Peter Verheyen and Neha Singh and Dieter Bode and Martin Davi and Filippo Ferraro and Philippe Absil and Sadhishkumar Balakrishnan and Joris Van Campenhout and Dries Van Thourhout and Günther Roelkens and Stéphane Clemmen and Bart Kuyken},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.08783},
year = {2025}
}