Due to their strong light confinement, waveguides with optical nonlinearities may be a promising platform for energy-efficient optical computing. Slow light can enhance a waveguide’s effective nonlinearity, which could result in devices that operate in low-power regimes where quantum fluctuations are important, and may also have quantum applications including squeezing and entanglement generation. In this manuscript, slow-light structures based on the Kerr (χ⁽³⁾) nonlinearity are analyzed using a semi-classical model to account for the quantum noise. We develop a hybrid split-step / Runge-Kutta numerical model to compute the mean field and squeezing spectrum for pulses propagating down a waveguide, and use this model to study squeezing produced in optical waveguides. Scaling relations are explored, and the benefits and limitations of slow light are discussed in the context of squeezing.

Date Published: 29 April 2016
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9900, Quantum Optics, 990012 (29 April 2016); doi: 10.1117/12.2227308

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9900:
Quantum Optics
Jürgen Stuhler; Andrew J. Shields, Editor(s)