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arXiv · 2405.03868

Tunable linear-optical phase amplification

Christopher R. Schwarze·David S. Simon·Abdoulaye Ndao·Alexander V. Sergienko
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Abstract

We combine lossless, phase-only transformations with fully-transmitting linear-optical scatterers to define the principle of linear-optical phase amplification. This enables a physical phase shift $\phi$ to be nonlinearly mapped to a new space $\gamma(\phi)$ using linear optics, resulting in a completely general and enhanced phase shifter that can replace any standard one. A particular phase amplifier is experimentally realized, allowing the phase enhancement parameter $d\gamma/d\phi$ to be continuously tuned. Placing this enhanced phase shifter in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer led to an intensity-phase slope more than twenty times steeper than what can be obtained with its unamplified counterpart.

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Christopher R. Schwarze, David S. Simon, Abdoulaye Ndao, Alexander V. Sergienko. 2024-05-06. Tunable linear-optical phase amplification. https://doi.org/10.1103/physreva.109.053508

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