Photon triplets from integrated microrings: A path towards deterministic non-Gaussianity on a chip

Abstract

We propose cascaded spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in microring resonators as a scalable and efficient approach for directly generating non-Gaussian states of light. Focusing on the well-understood "low-gain" regime, we demonstrate that triplet generation through cascaded SFWM can be achieved with high efficiency and favorable spectral characteristics using realistic microring sources in AlGaAs. The ability to achieve the generation of light in a single set of supermodes -- and the predicted accessibility of the "high-gain" regime at realistic pump powers -- makes this source a promising candidate as a direct and deterministic source of non-Gaussian light for photonic quantum information processing.