Tunable Narrow-Band Bi-Photon Source in IR Spectral Region for Calibration of High-Performance Transition-Edge Sensors

The overall goal of this NASA STTR mult-phase effort is to develop a compact fully integrated tunable narrowband bi-photon source operating in the visible/IR spectral region for calibration and characterization of high-performance transition-edge sensors (TES) arrays under development at NASA Goddard as well as other research facilities throughout U.S.nbsp; The key innovation in this effort is combining waveguide-based spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) with onboard wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and mode filtering for efficient generation, wavelength sorting, and fiber coupling of narrowband photon pairs in the near-to mid-infrared (IR) spectral region.nbsp; Phase I of this effort established the feasibility of this approach through demonstrating coincidence at the output of two arms of periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) chip with integrated wavelength division multiplexing (WDM).nbsp; This approach is enabled by combining AdvR#39;s expertise in fabrication, poling, and packaging nonlinear optical waveguides with the University of Illinois Urbana Champaigne#39;s (UIUC) demonstrated experience with high precision photon counting and quantum optics.nbsp; The outcome of this multi-phase STTR will significantly advance the state-of-the-art narrowband bi-photon sources for system calibration of single photon counting detectors and energy-resolving single-photon detector arrays in the mid-IR, near-IR, and visible spectral regimes.