Leland Stanford Junior University

Timothy Patrick McKenna

Amir Safavi-Naeini

Jeremy David Witmer

Hubert S Stokowski

Patricio Arrangoiz-Arriola

Jeff T Hill

In an integrated optical device, squeezed light is used internally to effectively increase an optical modulation effect. One exemplary device operates by squeezing the light at the input, then sending it through an electro-optic stage where its phase picks up the signal of interest, and finally anti-squeezing it to obtain a displaced coherent state. Thus the displacement is amplified by the level of squeezing that is achieved inside the device and it is thereby less sensitive to loss. Since this device behaves simply as an electro-optic modulator, albeit one with an exponentially enhanced sensitivity, no extra considerations are needed to integrate the modulator into a system. Such devices can be operated as modulators or as sensors, and can make use of optical phase shift effects other than the electro-optic effect.

Quantum enhanced optical modulator or sensor

A doubly resonant electro-optic converter is provided. An optical resonator and a microwave resonator are disposed such that fields from the two resonators can interact in an electro-optic active medium. The optical resonator is a planar photonic crystal optical resonator, and the microwave resonator is at least partially superconducting in operation. The active medium has a second order nonlinearity capable of generating a sum frequency signal and/or a difference frequency signal from the optical and microwave fields. The resulting structure has both quantum and classical applications.

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Timothy Patrick McKenna