Advanced nonlinear photonic sources

The future high-capacity optical and quantum communications, greenhouse gas monitoring, and advanced biological microscopy seem to have little in common.

However, all these areas, crucial for humanity´s progress, require advanced photonic sources with rather unusual properties.

They need a combination of precise wavelength targeting over large spectral ranges, customized temporal and spatial radiation properties, high efficiency, and a possibility for power scaling. Traditional photonic sources cannot address all these requirements at the same time. We aim to prove that advanced nonlinear photonic sources employing backward-wave interactions can achieve this feat.

Our group at KTH first demonstrated the concept.

Since the first demonstration, we have shown that the unique capabilities of backward-wave nonlinear photonic sources allow for precise engineering of the temporal properties of the radiation in a simple manner and with very high efficiency.

Moreover, the radiation is power scalable to the level appropriate to spaceborne atmospheric greenhouse gas measurement systems.

In this project, we aim to expand the capabilities of these advanced nonlinear photonic sources to the engineering of spatial properties of the radiation. That includes generating and manipulating photonic states containing vorticity and space-time inversion. Such states will be essential for future optical communications and are needed for manipulating objects in microscopy.