Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-66).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 134 p.; also includes graphics. Includes bibliographical references (p. 130-134). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xiii, 120 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-120).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 121-127).

This thesis describes an experimental investigation of optical frequency conversion in isotropic semiconductor waveguides by use of several phase-matching approaches. Efficient, type I second harmonic generation of femtosecond pulses is reported in birefringently-phase-matched GaAs/Alox waveguides pumped at 2.01 μm. Practical second harmonic average powers of up to ~ 650 μW are obtained, for an average launched pump power of ~ 5 mW. This corresponds to a waveguide conversion efficiency of ~ 20 % and a normalized conversion efficiency of greater than 1000 % W−1cm−2. Pump depletion of more than 80 % is recorded. Second harmonic generation by type I, third order quasi-phase-matching in a GaAs- AlAs superlattice waveguide is reported for fundamental wavelengths from ~1480 to 1520 nm. Quasi-phase-matching is achieved through modulation of the nonlinear coefficient χ[sub](zxy)(2), which is realised by periodically tuning the superlattice bandgap. An average output power of ~25 nW is obtained for a launched pump power of < 2.3 mW. Type I second harmonic generation by use of first order quasi-phase-matching in a GaAs/AlAs symmetric superlattice waveguide is also reported, with femtosecond fundamental pulses at 1.55 μm. A periodic spatial modulation of the bulk-like second- order susceptibility χ[sub](zxy)(2) is realized using quantum well intermixing by As+ ion implantation. A practical second harmonic average power of ~1.5 μW is detected, for a coupled pump power of ~11 mW. Second harmonic generation through modal-phase-matching in GaAs/AlGaAs semiconductor waveguides is reported. Using femtosecond pulses, both type I and type II second harmonic conversion is demonstrated for fundamental wavelengths near 1.55 μm. An average second harmonic power of ~10.3 μW is collected at the waveguide output for a coupled pump power of < 20 mW. For a complete characterisation, the optical loss is measured in these nonlinear GaAs- based waveguides over the spectral range 1.3-2.1 μm in the infrared, by deploying a femtosecond scattering technique. Typical losses of ~5-10 dB/cm are measured for the best of the waveguides, while a systematic intensity and wavelength dependent study revealed the contribution of Rayleigh scattering and two photon absorption in the overall transmission loss.

xiii, 164 p. : ill. (some col.) / We explore the frequency translation of single-photon states of light and the creation of photon pairs by four-wave mixing in optical fiber. Frequency translation refers to changing the central frequency of a field, while photon pair creation refers to the creation of two individual photons at the same time. We demonstrate these effects in third-order nonlinear optical fiber. While both phenomena have previously been shown by three-wave mixing in second-order nonlinear media, there are compelling reasons to develop these tasks in third-order media. Most importantly, frequency translation in third-order material allows for the practical implementation of both small and large frequency shifts, while second-order material only practically allows for large shifts. Photon creation in third-order media often permits more flexible phase-matching conditions, allowing for the creation of a wider variety of quantum states than is often possible in second-order media. In our theoretical study of photon pair creation, we focus on the spectral correlations of the photon pairs. We pay particular attention to the creation of quantum states of high purity, where the photons are not spectrally correlated with one another. High purity photons are a requisite resource for several different quantum information processing applications, such as linear-optical quantum computing. We find that states with high purity can be realized with a minimal amount of spectral filtering. Experimentally, we study photon frequency translation in photonic crystal fiber. The central wavelength of the input photons was translated from 683 nm to 659 nm. We perform second-order intensity correlation measurements on both channels to demonstrate their quantum nature. This resulted in values of 0.21 ± 0.02 and 0.19 ± 0.05 for the 683-nm and 659-nm channels, respectively, demonstrating that those fields were dominated by their single-photon component. The efficiency at which the process occurred was 29 percent. Theoretically, we develop a Green function formalism to describe the translation process and develop a computational model to calculate the solution to the governing equations. Also, in a related experiment, we demonstrate classical frequency translation from 851 nm to 641 nm, a record translation in both wavelength and frequency, at an efficiency of 0.2 percent in a birefringent fiber. / Committee in charge: Dr. Daniel Steck, Chair; Dr. Michael Raymer, Advisor; Dr. Steven van Enk, Inside Member; Dr. Raghuveer Parthasarathy, Inside Member; Dr. Andrew Marcus, Outside Member

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:34:59Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) / Tese (Doutoramento) / IPEN/T / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN-CNEN/SP / FAPESP:08/00284-0

Mistura de quatro ondas não degenerada em fibras ópticas na configuração de cavidade foi inicialmente proposto como forma de geração de estados comprimidos da luz. Neste trabalho desenvolvemos um tratamento pura- mente quântico da análise da interação não linear entre a luz e a matéria. Com a equação de Fokker-Planck na representação de Wigner obtemos di- retamente das equações o limiar de oscilação dos feixes gêmeos e o efeito de biestabilidade. Das equações de dinâmica linearizadas para as flutuações de quadraturas confirmamos a geração de estados comprimidos provenientes do processo de 4WM, tanto abaixo quanto acima do limiar de oscilação. Não é possível iniciar a geração dos feixes gêmeos sem antes alcançar o limiar de oscilação do espalhamento Brillouin estimulado. Portanto, técnicas para aumentar este limiar devem ser empregadas em qualquer medida de ruído ao nível de shot-noise com geração de campos. Nós também testamos as limitações técnicas intrínsecas do laser de diodo, como o ruído de amplitude e fase, assim como sua estabilidade em um experimento interferômetrico. Abaixo do limiar, a cavidade atua no sentido de reduzir o ruído de fase do laser em um intervalo de frequência que vai de 10MHz a 80MHz. / Nondegenarate four-wave mixing in an optical-fiber cavity geometry, was initially proposed as a mean to generate squeezed states of light. We developed in this work a purely quantum analyzis of the nonlinear interaction between light and medium. With Fokker-Planck equation in the Wigner representation, we obtained directly from the equations, the twin beams oscillation threshold and bistability. From the linearized dynamic equations for the quadratures fluctuations, we confirmed the generation of squeezed states proceeding from 4WM process, not only below but above the threshold oscillation. It is not possible to initiate the twin beams generation without first reaching the stimulated Brillouin scattering threshold. Therefore, techniques to increase this threshold, must be used for any noise measure to the shot-noise level with fields generation. We also have tested the technical limitations of laser diode, as amplitude and phase noise, as well as the stability in an interferometric experiment. Below threshold, the cavity acts in the sense of reducing the intrinsic laser phase noise in a frequency range that goes from 10MHz to 80MHz.

Em sólidos dopados com Cr+3, o efeito não-linear ocorre devido à população de íons dopantes no estado metaestável, o qual possui uma polarizabilidade diferente do estado fundamental. Nestes materiais, o índice de refração não-linear n2 é proporcional a &#916;&#945;/Is , onde &#916;&#945; é a diferença de polarizabilidade, entre os estados, excitado (metaestável) e o fundamental, e Is a intensidade de saturação da transição. A técnica conhecida como Z-Scan é na atualidade a mais popular para medidas de n2 e foi recentemente aplicada em cristais dopados com Cr+3. Nestes materiais, o tempo de resposta do meio não-linear é dado pelo longo tempo de vida espontâneo do estado excitado &#964;0 (usualmente &#964;0 > 100 &#181;s) tornando possível medidas da resposta transiente do sinal. Isto torna possível a normalização do sinal pela medida em t =O (quando o efeito não-linear ainda não se manifestou) com o intuito de eliminar efeitos lineares parasíticos (devido a imperfeições da superfície da amostra, não paralelismo, etc.). Neste trabalho 7 nós usamos o método de Z-Scan resolvido no tempo para determinar não apenas n2, mas também a intensidade de saturação Is. Nós introduzimos um novo método para determinação de Is, através da medida de Z-Scan transiente. Os valores de n2 e Is, podem ser usados para calcular a seção de choque da absorção no estado fundamental &#963;1, &#916;&#945; e &#916;&#963; (a diferença de seção de choque de absorção entre o estado excitado e metaestável). , Fizemos medidas em cristais de rubi e alexandrita usando um laser de Ar modulado por um \"chopper\". No caso da alexandrita, o Cr+3 pode ocupar dois sítios que apresentam propriedades bastante diferentes. A técnica resolvida no tempo permite que se diferencie estes dois sítios, e então se determine n2, Is, &#964;0, &#916;&#945; e &#916;&#963; para o íon de Cr+3 em cada tipo de sítio (no caso do sítio de espelho os valores de n2 e &#916;&#945; são inéditos). / In Cr+3 doped solids, the nonlinearity originates from the population of dopant íon metastable excited state, which has a polarizability different from that of ground state. In these materials, the non-linear refractive index n2 is proportional to a &#916;&#945;/Is, where a &#916;&#945; is polarizability difference between excited and ground states and Is is the transition saturation intensity. The thecnique known as Z-Scan is nowadays the most popular one for n2 measurements and was recently applied to Cr+3 doped solids. In this material, the nonlinearity response time is given by the excited state spontaneous lifetime &#964;0 (usually &#964;0 > 100 &#181;s) permitting transient response measurements. This allows signal normalization at t=0 (when the nonlinear effect did not appear yet) in order to eliminate parasitic linear effects (due to nonparallel sample surfaces, surface imperfections, etc.). In the present work we used a time resolved Z-Scan method to determine not only n2 but also the saturation intensity Is and these values can be used to calculate the ground state absorption cross section &#963;1, &#916;&#945; and &#916;&#963; (where &#916;&#963; is the absorption cross section difference between excited and ground states). We introduced a new method to measure Is through transient Z-Scan measurements. We performed measurements in ruby and alexandrite using a chopped Ar+ ion laser. In the alexandrite crystal the Cr+3 ion can occupied two different sites that have very different spectroscopy properties. The time resolved technique allowed us to distinguished these two sites and then determine n2, &#963;0, &#916;&#945; , &#916;&#963; and Is for the Cr+3 ion each kind of site(our n2, &#916;&#945; and Is results for the mirror site are original contributions of these work).

Neste trabalho utilizamos a técnica de mistura de duas ondas quase degeneradas na investigação das propriedades ópticas não lineares, associadas à mudança de índice de refração com a intensidade da luz, em materiais dopados com cromo: Al2O3:Cr3+ (rubi), BeAl2O4:Cr3+ (alexandrita) e GdAlO3:Cr3+ (aluminato de gadolínio dopado com cromo). A não linearidade Kerr para o GdAlO3: Cr3+ é bastante significativa, de modo que neste material o parâmetro de ganho do feixe de prova apresenta um comportamento muito peculiar e que não encontra explicação nos tratamentos teóricos usuais do processo de mistura de duas ondas. Em particular, o ganho do feixe de prova neste material atinge percentuais superiores a 200%. Desta forma, desenvolvemos um tratamento teórico que descreve a mistura de duas ondas quase degeneradas em meios onde o índice de refração depende da intensidade (n= n0+n2I). Esta abordagem teórica leva em consideração os efeitos de saturação da grade de população produzida pela intersecção dos feixes de luz no meio Kerr (não harmonicidades da grade) e o processo de mistura de duas ondas é considerado como um caso particular do fenômeno da auto-difração difração de ordem zero. Os resultados teóricos foram comparados com os resultados experimentais e várias previsões teóricas como, a dependência do parâmetro de ganho do feixe de prova com a intensidade de saturação do meio, a dependência da diferença de freqüência entre os dois feixes incidentes onde o ganho é máximo com a intensidade do feixe de bombeamento, foram confirmadas experimentalmente / In this work nearly degenerate two-wave mixing technique is used in order to investigate nonlinear optical properties, associated to the refractive índex change by incident light, in a few doped crystals: Al2O3:Cr3+ (ruby), BeAl2O4:Cr3+ (alexandrite) e GdAlO3:Cr3+ (gadolinium aluminate chromium doped). The Kerr nonlinearity in GdAlO3:Cr3+ is very high, so that the probe gain parameter has peculiar behavior in this material and this cannot be explained by using the current approach found in the literature. In particular, the probe gain parameter in this material reaches percentuals above 200%. In this way, we develop a theoretical approach which describes nearly degenerate two-wave mixing in media where the refractive índex is intensity dependent. This theoretical approach takes into account the saturation of the travelling population grating produced by two interesting beams (anharmonicities of the population grating) and the two-wave mixing process is regarded as the zero-order self-diffraction of the incident waves in this grating. The theoretical results are compared with the experimental ones and several theoretical predictions such as, the dependence of the probe gain parameter on the médium saturation intensity were experimentally verified