Abstract: A method of nonblocking optical switching includes guiding a first optical beam from a first input to a first output via a first path through an optical switching fabric. The first path traverses a phase shifter disposed between a pair of cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers. The method also includes receiving a second optical beam for a second path intersecting with the first path through the optical switching fabric. The method also includes moving the first optical beam from the first path to a third path connecting the first input to the first output without intersecting the second path. The method also includes shifting a phase of the first optical beam, with the phase shifter, while moving the first optical beam from the first path to the third path to prevent the first optical beam from interfering with the second optical beam.

Abstract: A method of locating a substrate within a field of view of an imaging system includes acquiring an image of a first marker on a substrate in the field of view. The first marker has a first spatial pattern representing a position of the first marker relative to the substrate. The method also includes determining possible positions of the substrate based on the first spatial pattern and moving the substrate relative to the field of view based on the possible positions of the substrate. The method also includes acquiring an image of a second marker on the substrate in the field of view. The second marker has a second pattern representing a position of the second marker relative to the substrate. The method further includes determining the position of the substrate relative to the field of view based on the position of the second marker on the substrate.

Abstract: A photon source to deliver single photons includes a storage ring resonator to receive pump photons and generate a signal photon and an idler photon. An idler resonator is coupled to the storage resonator to couple the idler photon out of the storage resonator and into a detector. Detection of the idler photon stops the pump photons from entering the storage resonator. A signal resonator is coupled to the storage resonator to couple out the signal photon remaining in the storage resonator and delivers the signal photon to applications. The photon source can be fabricated into a photonic integrated circuit to achieve high compactness, reliability, and controllability.

Abstract: An integrated optical beam steering device includes a planar dielectric lens that collimates beams from different inputs in different directions within the lens plane. It also includes an output coupler, such as a grating or photonic crystal, that guides the collimated beams in different directions out of the lens plane. A switch matrix controls which input port is illuminated and hence the in-plane propagation direction of the collimated beam. And a tunable light source changes the wavelength to control the angle at which the collimated beam leaves the plane of the substrate. The device is very efficient, in part because the input port (and thus in-plane propagation direction) can be changed by actuating only log2 N of the N switches in the switch matrix. It can also be much simpler, smaller, and cheaper because it needs fewer control lines than a conventional optical phased array with the same resolution.

Abstract: Most artificial neural networks are implemented electronically using graphical processing units to compute products of input signals and predetermined weights. The number of weights scales as the square of the number of neurons in the neural network, causing the power and bandwidth associated with retrieving and distributing the weights in an electronic architecture to scale poorly. Switching from an electronic architecture to an optical architecture for storing and distributing weights alleviates the communications bottleneck and reduces the power per transaction for much better scaling. The weights can be distributed at terabits per second at a power cost of picojoules per bit (versus gigabits per second and femtojoules per bit for electronic architectures). The bandwidth and power advantages are even better when distributing the same weights to many optical neural networks running simultaneously.

Abstract: A method includes applying, to a sample exhibiting optical scattering and having a emission particles distributed therein that exhibit spin-dependent fluorescence, a magnetic field to shift a resonance frequency of each emission particle in a position-dependent manner. The method also includes exciting the sample with an excitation beam that causes at least one emission particle to emit spin-dependent fluorescence and detecting the emitted spin-dependent fluorescence. The method also includes estimating a position of the emission particle(s) within the sample based on the spin-dependent fluorescence, the resonance frequency, and the magnetic field. The method also includes estimating optical transmission information for the sample based on a wavefront of the excitation beam and the estimated position. The optical transmission information including a measure of an optical field at each position of an emission particle.

Abstract: A single photon detector (SPD) includes a resonator to store probe photons at a probe wavelength and an absorber disposed in the resonator to absorb a signal photon at a signal wavelength. The absorber is also substantially transparent to the probe photons. In the absence of the signal photon, the resonator is on resonance with the probe photons, thereby confining the probe photons within the resonator. Absorption of the signal photon by the absorber disturbs the resonant condition of the resonator, causing the resonator to release multiple probe photons. A photodetector (PD) then detects these multiple probe photons to determine the presence of the signal photon.

Abstract: A light-trapping geometry enhances the sensitivity of strain, temperature, and/or electromagnetic field measurements using nitrogen vacancies in bulk diamond, which have exterior dimensions on the order of millimeters. In an example light-trapping geometry, a laser beam enters the bulk diamond, which may be at room temperature, through a facet or notch. The beam propagates along a path inside the bulk diamond that includes many total internal reflections off the diamond's surfaces. The NVs inside the bulk diamonds absorb the beam as it propagates. Photodetectors measure the transmitted beam or fluorescence emitted by the NVs. The resulting transmission or emission spectrum represents the NVs' quantum mechanical states, which in turn vary with temperature, magnetic field strength, electric field strength, strain/pressure, etc.

Abstract: An optical neural network is constructed based on photonic integrated circuits to perform neuromorphic computing. In the optical neural network, matrix multiplication is implemented using one or more optical interference units, which can apply an arbitrary weighting matrix multiplication to an array of input optical signals. Nonlinear activation is realized by an optical nonlinearity unit, which can be based on nonlinear optical effects, such as saturable absorption. These calculations are implemented optically, thereby resulting in high calculation speeds and low power consumption in the optical neural network.

Abstract: An integrated optical beam steering device includes a planar dielectric lens that collimates beams from different inputs in different directions within the lens plane. It also includes an output coupler, such as a grating or photonic crystal, that guides the collimated beams in different directions out of the lens plane. A switch matrix controls which input port is illuminated and hence the in-plane propagation direction of the collimated beam. And a tunable light source changes the wavelength to control the angle at which the collimated beam leaves the plane of the substrate. The device is very efficient, in part because the input port (and thus in-plane propagation direction) can be changed by actuating only log2 N of the N switches in the switch matrix. It can also be much simpler, smaller, and cheaper because it needs fewer control lines than a conventional optical phased array with the same resolution.

Abstract: A light-trapping geometry enhances the sensitivity of strain, temperature, and/or electromagnetic field measurements using nitrogen vacancies in bulk diamond, which have exterior dimensions on the order of millimeters. In an example light-trapping geometry, a laser beam enters the bulk diamond, which may be at room temperature, through a facet or notch. The beam propagates along a path inside the bulk diamond that includes many total internal reflections off the diamond's surfaces. The NVs inside the bulk diamonds absorb the beam as it propagates. Photodetectors measure the transmitted beam or fluorescence emitted by the NVs. The resulting transmission or emission spectrum represents the NVs' quantum mechanical states, which in turn vary with temperature, magnetic field strength, electric field strength, strain/pressure, etc.

Abstract: Systems, apparatus, and methods using an integrated photonic chip capable of operating at rates higher than a Gigahertz for quantum key distribution are disclosed. The system includes two identical transmitter chips and one receiver chip. The transmitter chips encode photonic qubits by modulating phase-randomized attenuated laser light within two early or late time-bins. Each transmitter chip can produce a single-photon pulse either in one of the two time-bins or as a superposition of the two time-bins with or without any phase difference. The pulse modulation is achieved using ring resonators, and the phase difference between the two time-bins is obtained using thermo-optic phase shifters and/or time delay elements. The receiver chip employs either homodyne detection or heterodyne detection to perform Bell measurements.

Abstract: A method of nonblocking optical switching includes guiding a first optical beam from a first input to a first output via a first path through an optical switching fabric. The first path traverses a phase shifter disposed between a pair of cascaded Mach-Zehnder interferometers. The method also includes receiving a second optical beam for a second path intersecting with the first path through the optical switching fabric. The method also includes moving the first optical beam from the first path to a third path connecting the first input to the first output without intersecting the second path. The method also includes shifting a phase of the first optical beam, with the phase shifter, while moving the first optical beam from the first path to the third path to prevent the first optical beam from interfering with the second optical beam.

Abstract: A large-scale tunable-coupling ring array includes an input waveguide coupled to multiple ring resonators, each of which has a distinct resonant wavelength. The collective effect of these multiple ring resonators is to impart a distinct time delay to a distinct wavelength component (or frequency component) in an input signal, thereby carrying out quantum scrambling of the input signal. The scrambled signal is received by a receiver also using a large-scale tunable-coupling ring array. This receiver-end ring resonator array recovers the input signal by imparting a compensatory time delay to each wavelength component. Each ring resonator can be coupled to the input waveguide via a corresponding Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI). The MZI includes a phase shifter on at least one of its arms to increase the tunability of the ring array.

Abstract: A photon source to deliver single photons includes a storage ring resonator to receive pump photons and generate a signal photon and an idler photon. An idler resonator is coupled to the storage resonator to couple the idler photon out of the storage resonator and into a detector. Detection of the idler photon stops the pump photons from entering the storage resonator. A signal resonator is coupled to the storage resonator to couple out the signal photon remaining in the storage resonator and delivers the signal photon to applications. The photon source can be fabricated into a photonic integrated circuit to achieve high compactness, reliability, and controllability.

Abstract: A method of locating a substrate within a field of view of an imaging system includes acquiring an image of a first marker on a substrate in the field of view. The first marker has a first spatial pattern representing a position of the first marker relative to the substrate. The method also includes determining possible positions of the substrate based on the first spatial pattern and moving the substrate relative to the field of view based on the possible positions of the substrate. The method also includes acquiring an image of a second marker on the substrate in the field of view. The second marker has a second pattern representing a position of the second marker relative to the substrate. The method further includes determining the position of the substrate relative to the field of view based on the position of the second marker on the substrate.

Abstract: A buffer layer is employed to fabricate diamond membranes and allow reuse of diamond substrates. In this approach, diamond membranes are fabricated on the buffer layer, which in turn is disposed on a diamond substrate that is lattice-matched to the diamond membrane. The weak bonding between the buffer layer and the diamond substrate allows ready release of the fabricated diamond membrane. The released diamond membrane is transferred to another substrate to fabricate diamond devices, while the diamond substrate is reused for another fabrication.

Abstract: A single photon detector (SPD) includes a resonator to store probe photons at a probe wavelength and an absorber disposed in the resonator to absorb a signal photon at a signal wavelength. The absorber is also substantially transparent to the probe photons. In the absence of the signal photon, the resonator is on resonance with the probe photons, thereby confining the probe photons within the resonator. Absorption of the signal photon by the absorber disturbs the resonant condition of the resonator, causing the resonator to release multiple probe photons. A photodetector (PD) then detects these multiple probe photons to determine the presence of the signal photon.

Abstract: An integrated optical beam steering device includes a planar dielectric lens that collimates beams from different inputs in different directions within the lens plane. It also includes an output coupler, such as a grating or photonic crystal, that guides the collimated beams in different directions out of the lens plane. A switch matrix controls which input port is illuminated and hence the in-plane propagation direction of the collimated beam. And a tunable light source changes the wavelength to control the angle at which the collimated beam leaves the plane of the substrate. The device is very efficient, in part because the input port (and thus in-plane propagation direction) can be changed by actuating only log2 N of the N switches in the switch matrix. It can also be much simpler, smaller, and cheaper because it needs fewer control lines than a conventional optical phased array with the same resolution.

Abstract: A buffer layer is employed to fabricate diamond membranes and allow reuse of diamond substrates. In this approach, diamond membranes are fabricated on the buffer layer, which in turn is disposed on a diamond substrate that is lattice-matched to the diamond membrane. The weak bonding between the buffer layer and the diamond substrate allows ready release of the fabricated diamond membrane. The released diamond membrane is transferred to another substrate to fabricate diamond devices, while the diamond substrate is reused for another fabrication.