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A. A. Kalinkin

Publications and source records attributed to A. A. Kalinkin.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Control of eigenmode localization and coupling anisotropy by multiscan femtosecond laser writing

The multiscan method is widely used in femtosecond laser writing of waveguide systems to increase the refractive index contrast and to control the eigenmode shape. Here, we investigate multiscan writing with a constant effective writing speed and show that the displacement between adjacent scans provides an additional degree of freedom for controlling eigenmode confinement. By optimizing the multiscan parameters, the effective mode area can be reduced, enabling an up to eightfold increase in fabrication speed compared to conventional single-scan writing. We further demonstrate that careful tuning of the multiscan geometry substantially reduces the anisotropy of inter-waveguide coupling. These findings are applied to the fabrication of three-dimensional waveguide arrays operating at wavelengths of 808 nm and 1450 nm, where reduced coupling anisotropy is achieved. The proposed approach may be useful for three-dimensional waveguide arrays employed in topological photonics experiments, where low coupling anisotropy is desired.

physics.optics↗

Observation of topological vortex solitons on disclinations

Vortex-carrying wave fields play a crucial role in photonics due to unusual propagation properties and interactions with matter, which enable numerous practical applications ranging from optical tweezers and imaging to information encoding and transmission. Localized vortex-carrying beams propagating in nonlinear optical media may form self-sustained excited states-vortex solitons-which are, however, usually prone to instabilities and require high powers for their stabilization in non-topological materials. Using fs-laser written aperiodic waveguide arrays, we demonstrate that photonic topological insulators with disclinations admit the formation of stable and thresholdless vortex solitons with tunable shapes. These unique materials belong to a class of higher-order topological insulators and allow the propagation of localized, topologically protected excitations at the disclination core, enabling disorder-resistant transmission of signals and energy. We show that vortex solitons bifurcate from the superposition of topologically protected linear edge states at the disclination core and remain stable in the entire forbidden topological gap. Realized topological vortex solitons with symmetries that are inaccessible in periodic lattices are the first example of excited soliton states with non-trivial phase structure in a topological insulator. Our findings shine a light on the interplay between nonlinearity, the angular momentum degree of freedom of light, and the material topology.

physics.optics↗

Observation of linear and nonlinear light trapping on topological dislocations

Topological dislocations in otherwise periodic lattices represent global structural defects that, nevertheless, typically leave the lattice periodicity intact far from the dislocation. Such dislocations arise in diverse physical systems ranging from crystalline solids, acoustic and photonic lattices and crystals to matter waves in optical lattices. Dislocations drastically affect the evolution of wave excitations in their vicinity, enabling novel mechanisms for trapping on topological defects and controlling the energy flow. Moreover, when combined with nonlinearity, such systems give rise to new types of self-sustained states of topological origin that have never been observed to date. Here we demonstrate experimentally, for the first time at optical frequencies, the waveguiding at various types of topological edge dislocations, resulting in the formation of localized photonic eigenstates with distinct and tunable shapes. Using femtosecond laser-writing techniques, we fabricated waveguide arrays with precisely tailored dislocation parameters, enabling full control over the degree of localization and internal structure of the associated modes. We further demonstrate both theoretically and experimentally that in the high-power regime, the families of thresholdless dislocation solitons bifurcate from such modes, which inherit shape diversity of their linear counterparts. Our results reveal a nontrivial interplay between nonlinearity and global lattice deformations and establish dislocation solitons as a new class of nonlinear topological states. They may stimulate the observation of new types of nonlinear states and interaction scenarios for excitations in nonlinear physical systems, where lattices with controllable global deformations can be created.

physics.optics↗

Observation of Light Localization at the Edges of Quasicrystal Waveguide Arrays

Quasicrystals are unique systems that, unlike periodic structures, lack translational symmetry but exhibit long-range order dramatically enriching the system properties. While evolution of light in the bulk of photonic quasicrystals is well studied, experimental evidences of light localization near the edge of truncated photonic quasicrystal structures are practically absent. In this Letter, we observe both linear and nonlinear localization of light at the edges of radially cropped quasicrystal waveguide arrays, forming an aperiodic Penrose tiling. Our theoretical analysis reveals that for certain truncation radii, the system exhibits linear eigenstates localized at the edge of the truncated array, whereas for other radii, this localization does not occur, highlighting the significant influence of truncation on edge light localization. Using single-waveguide excitations, we experimentally confirm the presence of localized states in Penrose arrays inscribed by a femtosecond laser and investigate the effects of nonlinearity on these states. Our theoretical findings identify a family of edge solitons, and experimentally, we observe a transition from linear localized states to edge solitons as the power of the input pulse increases. Our results represent the first experimental demonstration of localization phenomena induced by the selective truncation of quasiperiodic photonic systems.

physics.optics↗

Femtosecond laser written low-loss multiscan waveguides in fused silica

We report low-loss multiscan waveguides fabricated in fused silica using femtosecond laser writing technology. The multiscan principle allows to tailor the writing regime to excel at key features of any integrated photonic platform: coupling losses and propagation losses. We optimized the writing parameters for different sizes of square-shaped waveguides and reached the mode overlap value with a standard single-mode optical fiber of above 98.8\% and demonstrated very low coupling losses of 0.2 dB/facet on average. Propagation losses in the fabricated waveguides amounted to 0.07 dB/cm. We applied the developed recipe to the fabrication of a fiber-coupled 25-channel interferometer with total insertion losses below 1 dB. The findings of this work are of interest for broad range of applications and in particular for optical information processing and quantum photonics.

physics.optics↗

Macroscopic Zeno effect in Su-Schrieffer-Heeger photonic topological insulator

The quantum Zeno effect refers to slowing down of the decay of a quantum system that is affected by frequent measurements. Nowadays, the significance of this paradigm is extended far beyond quantum systems, where it was introduced, finding physical and mathematical analogies in such phenomena as the suppression of output beam decay by sufficiently strong absorption introduced in guiding optical systems. In the latter case, the effect is often termed as macroscopic Zeno effect. Recent studies in optics, where enhanced transparency of the entire system was observed upon the increase of the absorption, were largely focused on the systems obeying parity-time symmetry, hence, the observed effect was attributed to the symmetry breaking. While manifesting certain similarities in the behavior of the transparency of the system with the mentioned studies, the macroscopic Zeno phenomenon reported here in topological photonic system is far more general in nature. In particular, we show that it does not require the existence of exceptional points, and that it is based on the suppression of decay for only a subspace of modes that can propagate in the system, alike the quantum Zeno dynamics. By introducing controlled losses in one of the arms of a topological insulator comprising two closely positioned Su-Schrieffer-Heeger arrays, we demonstrate the macroscopic Zeno effect, which manifests itself in an increase of the transparency of the system with respect to the topological modes created at the interface between two arrays. The phenomenon remains robust against disorder in the non-Hermitian topological regime. In contrast, coupling a topological array with a non-topological one results in a monotonic decrease in output power with increasing absorption.

physics.optics↗

Observation of nonlinear disclination states

Introduction of controllable deformations into periodic materials that lead to disclinations in their structure opens novel routes for construction of higher-order topological insulators hosting topological states at disclinations. Appearance of these topological states is consistent with the bulk-disclination correspondence principle, and is due to the filling anomaly that results in fractional charges to the boundary unit cells. So far, topological disclination states were observed only in the linear regime, while the interplay between nonlinearity and topology in the systems with disclinations has been never studied experimentally. We report here bon the experimental observation of the nonlinear photonic disclination states in waveguide arrays with pentagonal or heptagonal disclination cores inscribed in transparent optical medium using the fs-laser writing technique. The transition between nontopological and topological phases in such structures is controlled by the Kekulé distortion coefficient $r$ with topological phase hosting simultaneously disclination states at the inner disclination core and spatially separated from them corner, zero-energy, and extended edge states at the outer edge of the structure. We show that the robust nonlinear disclination states bifurcate from their linear counterparts and that location of their propagation constants in the gap and, hence, their spatial localization can be controlled by their power. Nonlinear disclination states can be efficiently excited by Gaussian input beams, but only if they are focused into the waveguides belonging to the disclination core, where such topological states reside.

physics.optics↗

Pulse area theorem in a single mode waveguide and its application to photon echo and optical memory in Tm3+:Y3Al5O12

We derive the area theorem for light pulses interacting with inhomogeneously broadened ensemble of two-level atoms in a single-mode optical waveguide and present its analytical solution for Gaussian-type modes, which demonstrates the significant difference from the formation of $2π$ pulses by plane waves. We generalize this theorem to the description of photon echo and apply it to the two-pulse (primary) echo and the revival of silenced echo (ROSE) protocol of photon echo quantum memory. For the first time, we implemented ROSE protocol in a single-mode laser-written waveguide made of an optically thin crystal $Tm^{3+}:Y_3Al_5O_{12}$. The experimental data obtained are satisfactorily explained by the developed theory. Finally, we discuss the obtained experimental results and possible applications of the derived pulse area approach.

physics.optics↗

Observation of linear and nonlinear light localization at the edges of moiré lattices

We observe linear and nonlinear light localization at the edges and in the corners of truncated moiré lattices created by the superposition of periodic mutually-twisted at Pythagorean angles square sublattices. Experimentally exciting corner linear modes in the fs-laser written moiré lattices we find drastic differences in their localization properties in comparison with the bulk excitations. We also address the impact of nonlinearity on the corner and bulk modes and experimentally observe the crossover from linear quasi-localized states to the surface solitons emerging at the higher input powers. Our results constitute the first experimental demonstration of localization phenomena induced by truncation of periodic moiré structures in photonic systems.

physics.optics↗

Observation of nonlinearity-controlled switching of topological edge states

We report the experimental observation of the periodic switching of topological edge states between two dimerized fs-laser written waveguide arrays. Switching occurs due to the overlap of the modal fields of the edge states from topological forbidden gap, when they are simultaneously present in two arrays brought into close proximity. We found that the phenomenon occurs for both strongly and weakly localized edge states and that switching rate increases with decreasing spacing between the topological arrays. When topological arrays are brought in contact with nontopological ones, switching in topological gap does not occur, while one observes either the formation of nearly stationary topological interface mode or strongly asymmetric diffraction into the nontopological array depending on the position of the initial excitation. Switching between topological arrays can be controlled and even completely arrested by increasing the peak power of the input signal, as we observed with different array spacings.

physics.optics↗

Observation of edge solitons in topological trimer arrays

We report the experimental observation of nonlinear light localization and edge soliton formation at the edges of fs-laser written trimer waveguide arrays, where transition from non-topological to topological phases is controlled by the spacing between neighboring trimers. We found that, in the former regime, edge solitons occur only above a considerable power threshold, whereas in the latter one they bifurcate from linear states. Edge solitons are observed in a broad power range where their propagation constant falls into one of the topological gaps of the system, while partial delocalization is observed when considerable nonlinearity drives the propagation constant into an allowed band, causing coupling with bulk modes. Our results provide direct experimental evidence of the coexistence and selective excitation in the same or in different topological gaps of two types of topological edge solitons with different internal structures, which can rarely be observed even in nontopological systems. This also constitutes the first experimental evidence of formation of topological solitons in a nonlinear system with more than one topological gap.

physics.optics↗

Observation and investigation of narrow optical transitions of 167Er3+ ions in femtosecond laser printed waveguides in 7LiYF4 crystal

We produced optical waveguides in the 167Er3+ :7LiYF4 crystal with diameters ranging from 30 to 100 mkm by using the depressed-cladding approach with femtosecond laser. These waveguides were studied (both inside and outside) by stationary and coherent spectroscopy on the 809 nm optical transitions between the hyperfine sublevels of 4I15/2 and 4I9/2 multiplets of 167Er3+ ions. It was found that the spectra of 167Er3+ were slightly broadened and shifted inside the waveguides compared to the bulk crystal spectra. We managed to observe a two-pulse photon echo on this transition and determined phase relaxation times for each of waveguides. The experimental results show that the created crystal waveguides doped by rare-earth ions can be used in optical quantum memory and integrated quantum schemes.

quant-ph↗

Multi-photon subtracted thermal states: description, preparation and reconstruction

We present a study of optical quantum states generated by subtraction of photons from the thermal state. Some aspects of their photon number and quadrature distributions are discussed and checked experimentally. We demonstrate an original method of up to ten photon subtracted state preparation with use of just one single-photon detector. All the states where measured with use of balanced homodyne technique, and the corresponding density matrices where reconstructed. The fidelity between desired and reconstructed states exceeds 99%

quant-ph↗

Laser-written polarizing directional coupler with reduced interaction length

Integrated optical devices are becoming a common tool in modern optical science and engineering. This devices should be designed to allow for precise control and manipulation of light. The femtosecond laser written (FSLW) photonic chips have proven to cope with the most current demands of integrated photonics. However, up to date the polarization degree of freedom has rarely been exploited in experiments performed on the FSLW integrated platform. The main obstacle is an intrinsically low anisotropy of laser written waveguides, preventing the design of polarizing integrated devices with small footprint. In this Letter we demonstrate the approach based on stress-induced anisotropy allowing us to decrease the size of polarizing directional couplers fabricated with the FSLW technology by almost an order of magnitude. We provide an accurate account for the effects emerging in waveguides written in a close proximity to each over.

physics.optics↗

Quantum polarization transformations in anisotropic dispersive medium

Based on the concept of chi-matrix and Choi-Jamiolkowski states we develop the approach of quantum process reconstruction. Special attention is paid to the adequacy of applied reconstruction models. The approach is applied to the statistical reconstruction of the polarization transformations in anisotropic and dispersive media realized by means of quartz plates and taking into account spectral shape of input states.

quant-ph↗

Angular Schmidt Modes in Spontaneous Parametric Down-Conversion

We report a proof-of-principle experiment demonstrating that appropriately chosen set of Hermite-Gaussian modes constitutes a Schmidt decomposition for transverse momentum states of biphotons generated in the process of spontaneous parametric down conversion. We experimentally realize projective measurements in Schmidt basis and observe correlations between appropriate pairs of modes. We perform tomographical state reconstruction in the Schmidt basis, by direct measurement of single-photon density matrix eigenvalues.

quant-ph↗