Coherent metamaterial absorption of two-photon states with 40% efficiency
Abstract
Multi-photon absorption processes have a nonlinear dependence on the amplitude of the incident optical field i.e. the number of photons. However, multi-photon absorption is generally weak and multi-photon events occur with extremely low probability. Consequently, it is extremely challenging to engineer quantum nonlinear devices that operate at the single photon level and the majority of quantum technologies have to rely on single photon interactions. Here, we demonstrate experimentally and theoretically that exploiting coherent absorption of N = 2 N00N states makes it possible to enhance the number of two-photon states that are absorbed. An absorbing metasurface placed inside a Sagnac-style interferometer into which we inject an N = 2 N00N state, exhibits two-photon absorption with 40.5% efficiency, close to the theoretical maximum. This high probability of simultaneous absorption of two photons holds the promise for applications in fields that require multi-photon upconversion but are hindered by high peak intensities.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1709.03428,
title = {Coherent metamaterial absorption of two-photon states with 40% efficiency},
author = {Ashley Lyons and Dikla Oren and Thomas Roger and Vassili Savinov and João Valente and Stefano Vezzoli and Nikolay I. Zheludev and Mordechai Segev and Daniele Faccio},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1709.03428},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
13 page, 5 figures