Progress on Chip-Based Spontaneous Four-Wave Mixing Quantum Light Sources

Abstract

Quantum light generated through spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) process in nonlinear materials, such as entangled photon pairs and single photons, is an important resource for various emerging quantum applications. Integrated quantum photonics has enabled the generation, manipulation, and detection of quantum states of light with steadily increasing scale and complexity levels. Importantly, the exploration of on-chip integration has accumulated substantial progresses in recent years toward the realization of low-cost, large-scale quantum photonic circuits. Here, we review the underlying mechanism and discuss state-of-the-art SFWM on-chip quantum light sources fabricated with various structures and materials on chip. Furthermore, we enumerate the most appealing applications of on-chip SFWM such as heralding single-photon source, entangled photon source, and system-level integration.