Nonclassical Optical Bistability and Resonance-Locked Regime of Photon-Pair Sources Using Silicon Microring Resonator

Abstract

This study presents $e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}x\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}p\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}r\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}m\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}e\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}l$ evidence of nonclassical optical bistability, in the context of photon-pair generation via spontaneous four-wave mixing in a silicon microring resonator. The hysteresis results greatly benefit on-chip quantum optics, to build a bridge between classical and potential nonclassical applications of optical bistability in microcavities. This work also improves traditional resonance-locked strategies by balancing power-induced heating and active cooling; since no precise pump tuning is required, the proposed resonance-locked regime can be more widely applied in fixed-wavelength optical communication systems.