Reliable generation of single photons is of key importance for fundamental physical experiments and quantum protocols. The periodically poled lithium niobate (LN) waveguide has shown promise for an integrated quantum source due to its large spectral tunability and high efficiency, benefiting from the quasi-phase-matching. Here we demonstrate photon-pair sources based on an LN waveguide periodically poled by a tightly focused femtosecond laser beam. The pair coincidence rate reaches ∼8000 counts per second for average pump power of 3.2 mW (peak power is 2.9 kW). Our results prove the possibility of application of the nonlinear photonics structure fabricated by femtosecond laser to the integrated quantum source. This method can be extended to three-dimensional domain structures, which provide a potential platform for steering the spatial degree of freedom of the entangled two-photon states.

Micromachining based on femtosecond lasers usually requires accurate control of the sample movement, which may be very complex and costly. Therefore, the exploration of micromachining without sample movement is valuable. Herein, we have illustrated the manipulation of optical fields by controlling the polarization or phase to vary periodically and then realized certain focal traces by real-time loading of the computer-generated holograms (CGHs) on the spatial light modulator. The focal trace is composed of many discrete focal spots, which are generated experimentally by using the real-time dynamically controlled CGHs. With the designed focal traces, various microstructures such as an ellipse, a Chinese character “Nan”, and an irregular quadrilateral grid structure are fabricated in the z-cut LiNbO3 wafers, showing good qualities in terms of continuity and homogeneity. Our method proposes a movement free solution for micromachining samples and completely abandons the high precision stage and complex movement control, making microstructure fabrication more flexible, stable, and cheaper.

Orbital angular momentum (OAM), as a fundamental parameter of a photon, has attracted great attention in recent years. Although various properties and applications have been developed by modulating the OAM of photons, there is rare research about the non-uniform OAM. We propose and generate a new kind of continuously tunable azimuthally non-uniform OAM for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, which is carried by a hybridly polarized vector optical field with a cylindrically symmetric intensity profile and a complex polarization singularity. We also present the perfect vector optical field carrying non-uniform OAM with a fixed radius independent of topological charges, which can propagate steadily without radial separation, solving the problem of the unsteady propagation due to the broadened OAM spectrum of the non-uniform OAM. This new kind of tunable non-uniform OAM with a cylindrical symmetric intensity profile, complex polarization singularity, and propagation stability enriches the family of OAMs and can be widely used in many regions such as optical manipulation, quantum optics, and optical communications.

Optical orbital angular momentum (OAM) is a special property of photons and has evoked research onto the light–matter interaction in both classical and quantum regimes. In classical optics, OAM is related to an optical vortex with a helical phase structure. In quantum optics, photons with a twisted or helical phase structure will carry a quantized OAM. To our knowledge, however, so far, no experiment has demonstrated the fundamental property of the OAM at the single-photon level. In this Letter, we have demonstrated the average photon trajectories of twisted photons in a double-slit interference. We have experimentally captured the double-slit interference process of twisted photons by a time-gated intensified charge-coupled device camera, which is trigged by a heralded detection. Our work provides new perspectives for understanding the micro-behaviors of twisted particles and enables new applications in imaging and sensing.

In free-space or in optical fibers, orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing for information transmission has been greatly developed. The light sources used were well coherent communication bands, and the fibers used were customized. Here, we use an 810 nm femtosecond laser to generate optical vortices carrying OAM and then feed them into two kinds of commercial step-index few-mode fibers to explore the transmission characteristics of OAM modes. We also propose a method without multiple-input multiple-output digital signal processing to identify the input OAMs. It is of great guiding significance for high-dimensional quantum information experiments via the OAMs as a degree of freedom, using the light generated by the spontaneous parametric down-conversion as the source and the commercial fibers for information transmission.

Transporting information is one of the important functions of photons and is also the essential duty of information science. Here, we realize multiple imaging by detecting photons with changeable wavelengths based on time-resolved correlation measurements. In our system, information from multiple objects can be transported. During this process, the wavelength of the photons illuminating the objects is different from the wavelength of the photons detected by the detectors. More importantly, the wavelength of the photons that are utilized to record images can also be changed to match the sensitive range of the used detectors. In our experiment, images of the objects are reconstructed clearly by detecting the photons at wavelengths of 650, 810, and 1064 nm, respectively. These properties should have potential applications in information science.