Directionally tunable co- and counterpropagating photon pairs from a nonlinear metasurface

Abstract: Nonlinear metasurfaces have recently been established as a new platform for generating photon pairs via spontaneous parametric down-conversion. While for classical harmonic generation in metasurfaces a high level of control over all degrees of freedom of light has been reached, this capability is yet to be developed for photon-pair generation. In this work, we theoretically and experimentally demonstrate for the first time precise control of the emission angle of photon pairs generated from a nonlinear metasurface. Our measurements show angularly tunable pair generation with high coincidence-to-accidental ratio for both co- and counterpropagating emission. The underlying principle is the transverse phase matching of guided-mode resonances with strong angular dispersion in a nonlinear metasurface consisting of a silicon dioxide grating on a nonlinear lithium niobate guiding layer. We provide a straightforward design strategy for photon-pair generation in such a device and find very good agreement between the calculations and experimental results. Here, we use all-optical emission angle tuning by means of the pump wavelength; however, the principle could be extended to modulation via the electro-optic effect in lithium niobate. In sum, this work provides an important addition to the toolset of subwavelength thickness photon-pair sources.

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Directionally tunable co- and counterpropagating photon pairs from a nonlinear metasurface ; volume:13 ; number:18 ; year:2024 ; pages:3563-3573 ; extent:11 ; Nanophotonics ; 13, Heft 18 (2024), 3563-3573 (gesamt 11)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Weißflog, Maximilian ; Ma, Jinyong ; Zhang, Jihua ; Fan, Tongmiao ; Lung, Shaun ; Pertsch, Thomas ; Neshev, Dragomir N. ; Saravi, Sina ; Setzpfandt, Frank ; Sukhorukov, Andrey A.

Further information

• DOI: 10.1515/nanoph-2024-0122
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2408231538001.541613394715
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 14.08.2025, 10:50 AM CEST