Semiconductor waveguide source of counterpropagating twin photons

Phys Rev Lett. 2006 Oct 27;97(17):173901. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.173901. Epub 2006 Oct 23.

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate an integrated semiconductor source of counterpropagating twin photons in the telecom range. A pump beam impinging on top of an AlGaAs waveguide generates parametrically two counterpropagating, orthogonally polarized signal/idler guided modes. A 2 mm long waveguide emits at room temperature one average photon pair per pump pulse, with a spectral linewidth of 0.15 nm. The twin character of the emitted photons is ascertained through a time-correlation measurement. This work opens a route towards new guided-wave semiconductor quantum devices.