Nonlinear optical frequency conversion using metamaterial arrays

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10054839-B1
Application number	US-201715624478-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jun 15, 2017
Priority date	Jun 19, 2015
Publication date	Aug 21, 2018
Grant date	Aug 21, 2018

Abstract

A method of nonlinear wavelength generation uses a nonlinear optical medium. An input flux of pump energy is applied to one or more dielectric optical resonators. Each resonator has an optical cavity comprising the nonlinear optical medium. Each resonator has at least one Mie resonance that is excited by the input flux of pump energy. The pump energy causes the generation of converted light containing at least one converted component having a frequency attainable only through a non-linear process.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method of nonlinear wavelength generation using a nonlinear optical medium and an input flux of pump energy comprising an input beam of electromagnetic radiation having a frequency f, the method comprising:
impinging the input beam onto one or more dielectric optical resonators, each having an optical cavity comprising the nonlinear optical medium, thereby to generate converted light containing at least one converted component having a frequency attainable only through a non-linear process; and
collecting, from the one or more dielectric resonators, a beam of output light comprising the at least one converted component;
wherein:
each of the one or more dielectric optical resonators has at least one Mie resonance that is excited by the input beam;
the at least one Mie resonance of each of the dielectric optical resonators is excited by the input beam;
the generating converted light comprises a process of harmonic generation, and
the at least one converted component comprises a second harmonic of the input beam frequency f.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the input flux of pump energy is applied to an array of nominally identical dielectric optical resonators.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one Mie resonance comprises a magnetic dipole resonance or an electric dipole resonance or both an electric dipole resonance and a magnetic dipole resonance.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more dielectric optical resonators has an electric dipole resonance, a magnetic dipole resonance, and resonances of higher order than the electric and magnetic dipole resonances, and wherein the at least one Mie resonance comprises at least one of the higher order resonances.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the at least one Mie resonance that is excited by the input beam comprises an electric dipole resonance, or a magnetic dipole resonance, or both an electric dipole resonance and a magnetic dipole resonance.

6. A method of nonlinear wavelength conversion using a nonlinear optical medium, one or more dielectric optical resonators, each having an optical cavity comprising the nonlinear optical medium, and at least one input beam of electromagnetic radiation having a frequency f, comprising:
impinging the at least one input beam onto the one or more dielectric optical resonators so as to excite at least one Mie resonance of each of the one or more dielectric optical resonators, thereby to generate converted light containing at least one converted component having a frequency unequal to f; and
collecting, from the one or more dielectric resonators, a beam of output light comprising the at least one converted component;
wherein:
the at least one input beam comprises a pump beam and a signal beam, and the generating converted light comprises at least one process from the group consisting of sum frequency generation, difference frequency generation, four-wave mixing, five-wave mixing, and six-wave mixing.

7. A method of nonlinear wavelength conversion using a nonlinear optical medium, one or more dielectric optical resonators, each having an optical cavity comprising the nonlinear optical medium, and at least one input beam of electromagnetic radiation having a frequency f, comprising:
impinging the at least one input beam onto the one or more dielectric optical resonators so as to excite at least one Mie resonance of each of the one or more dielectric optical resonators, thereby to generate converted light containing at least one converted component having a frequency unequal to f; and
collecting, from the one or more dielectric resonators, a beam of output light comprising the at least one converted component;
wherein:
the at least one input beam comprises a pump beam, and the generating converted light comprises a process of spontaneous parametric down-conversion.

8. A method of nonlinear wavelength conversion using a nonlinear optical medium, one or more dielectric optical resonators, each having an optical cavity comprising the nonlinear optical medium, and at least one input beam of electromagnetic radiation having a frequency f, comprising:
impinging the at least one input beam onto the one or more dielectric optical resonators so as to excite at least one Mie resonance of each of the one or more dielectric optical resonators, thereby to generate converted light containing at least one converted component having a frequency unequal to f; and
collecting, from the one or more dielectric resonators, a beam of output light comprising the at least one converted component;
wherein:
the nonlinear optical medium comprises a semiconductor host and a quantum well multilayer embedded in the semiconductor host.

9. A method of nonlinear wavelength conversion using a nonlinear optical medium, one or more dielectric optical resonators, each having an optical cavity comprising the nonlinear optical medium, and at least one input beam of electromagnetic radiation having a frequency f, comprising:
impinging the at least one input beam onto the one or more dielectric optical resonators so as to excite at least one Mie resonance of each of the one or more dielectric optical resonators, thereby to generate converted light containing at least one converted component having a frequency unequal to f; and
collecting, from the one or more dielectric resonators, a beam of output light comprising the at least one converted component;
wherein:
the at least one input beam comprises a pump beam, the nonlinear optical medium has a transition energy, and the generating converted light comprises a process of two-photon emission with emitted photon energies that are less than the transition energy.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the nonlinear optical medium comprises a semiconductor host and a quantum well multilayer embedded in the semiconductor host, the quantum well multilayer supports at least one inter-subband transition, and the inter-subband transition provides the nonlinear optical medium transition energy.

11. A method of nonlinear wavelength conversion using a nonlinear optical medium, one or more dielectric optical resonators, each having an optical cavity comprising the nonlinear optical medium, and at least one input beam of electromagnetic radiation having a frequency f, comprising:
impinging the at least one input beam onto the one or more dielectric optical resonators so as to excite at least one Mie resonance of each of the one or more dielectric optical resonators, thereby to generate converted light containing at least one converted component having a frequency unequal to f; and
collecting, from the one or more dielectric resonators, a beam of output light comprising the at least one converted component;
wherein:
the at least one input beam comprises a pump beam and a signal beam, and the pump beam and the signal beam each excite a respective Mie resonance of the one or more dielectric optical resonators.

12. A method of nonlinear wavelength conversion using a nonlinear optical medium, one or more dielectric optical resonators, each having an optical cavity comprising the nonlinear optical medium, and at least one input beam of electromagnetic radiation having a frequency f, comprising:
impinging the at least one input beam onto the one or more dielectric optical resonators so as to excite at least one Mie resonance of each of the one or more dielectric optical resonators, thereby to generate converted light containing at least one converted component having a frequency unequal to f; and
collecting, from the one or more dielectric resonators, a beam of output light comprising the at least one converted component;
wherein:
the o

Assignees

• Nat Tech & Eng Solutions Sandia Llc

Inventors

• Brener Igal
• Liu Sheng
• Sinclair Michael B
• Vabishchevich Polina

Classifications

• G02F1/353 Primary

  Frequency conversion, i.e. wherein a light beam is generated with frequency components different from those of the incident light beams · CPC title

• G02F1/3556

  Semiconductor materials, e.g. quantum wells · CPC title

• G02F1/3526

  using two-photon emission or absorption processes · CPC title

• G02F2203/15

  involving resonance effects, e.g. resonantly enhanced interaction · CPC title

• G02F1/37

  for second-harmonic generation {(G02F1/3532 takes precedence)} · CPC title