Joint spectral characterization of SPDC photon pairs near 2 $μ$m in (Al)GaAs-on-insulator waveguides

Abstract

Integrated photon-pair sources are a core component of chip-based quantum computing, communication, and metrology. Although such sources have been demonstrated at conventional telecom wavelengths, the 2 $μ$m band remains comparatively less explored, despite offering advantages for free-space quantum communication, low-loss transmission in emerging fiber networks, and integration with silicon photonic platforms. In this paper, we demonstrate spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in straight GaAs- and AlGaAs-on-insulator waveguides. This platform offers strong second-order nonlinearity and geometry-tunable dispersion, which are advantageous for efficient on-chip pair generation. Measurements of the joint spectral intensity and heralded second-order correlation function show broadband emission around 2 $μ$m with strong spectral anti-correlations. To our knowledge, this is the first direct joint-spectral characterization of an integrated SPDC source in this wavelength regime.