Generation of Entangled Photon Pairs from High-Quality-Factor Silicon Microring Resonator at Near-Zero Anomalous Dispersion

The intrinsic third-order nonlinearity in silicon has proven it to be quite useful in the field of quantum optics. Silicon is suitable for producing time-correlated photon pairs that are sources of heralded single-photon states for quantum integrated circuits. A quantum signal source in the form of single photons is an inherent requirement for the principles of quantum key distribution technology for secure communications. Here, we present numerical simulations of a silicon ring with a 6 μ m radius side-coupled with a bus waveguide as the source for the generation of single photons. The photon pairs are generated by exploring the process of degenerate spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM). The free spectral range (FSR) of the ring is quite large, simplifying the extraction of the signal/idler pairs. The phase-matching condition is considered by studying relevant parameters like the dispersion and nonlinearity. We optimize the ring for a high quality factor by varying the gap between the bus and the ring waveguide. This is the smallest ring studied for photon pair generation with a quality factor in the order of 10 5 . The width of the waveguides is chosen such that the phase-matching condition is satisfied, allowing for the propagation of fundamental modes only. The bus waveguide is pumped at one of the ring resonances with the minimum dispersion (1543.5 nm in our case) to satisfy the principle of energy conservation. The photon pair generation rate achieved is comparable to the state of the art. The photon pair sources exploiting nonlinear frequency conversion/generation processes is a promising alternative to atom-like single-photon emitters in the field of integrated photonics. Such miniaturized structures will benefit future on-chip architectures where multiple single-photon source devices are required on the same chip.