Dresden 2011 – scientific programme

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ISS: Intersectional Sessions

ISS 8: Quantum Optics of Solid State Photon Sources (Q, HL)

ISS 8.2: Talk

Thursday, March 17, 2011, 11:00–11:15, HSZ 02

Quantum Light from a Whispering Gallery Resonator — •Josef Fürst¹, Dmitry Strekalov², Dominique Elser¹, Ulrik L. Andersen^1,3, Andrea Aiello¹, Christoph Marquardt¹, and Gerd Leuchs¹ — ¹Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, Institute for Optics, Information and Photonics, University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany — ²Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California lnstitute of Technology, Pasadena, USA — ³Department of Physics, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark

Optical subharmonic generation, also referred to as parametric downconversion (PDC) is mediated by an optically nonlinear dielectric medium and connects an optical field to its subharmonic. In this process, one pump photon is converted to two subharmonic photons, called signal and idler. Enclosing the nonlinear medium in a cavity, the setup is called an optical parametric oscillator (OPO). We use a whispering gallery mode (WGM) resonator for our OPO. These WGM cavities offer high quality factors, that enhance the conversion efficiency of the nonlinear process. With a WGM resonator made from Lithium Niobate, we were able to show extremely efficient PDC in our WGM OPO. As the signal and idler photon pairs originate from one pump photon in PDC, they are strongly correlated in photon number. Investigating the quantum properties of the interacting light fields, while driving the OPO above the pump threshold, we observed nonclassical parametric light [1]. We plan to further investigate these quantum properties and will present the latest results.

[1] J. U. Fürst et al., arXiv:1008.0594v6 (2010)