Tunable linear-optical phase amplification

Christopher R. Schwarze, David S. Simon, Abdoulaye Ndao, and Alexander V. Sergienko

Phys. Rev. A 109, 053508 – Published 6 May 2024

Abstract

We combine lossless, phase-only transformations with fully transmitting linear-optical scatterers to define the principle of linear-optical phase amplification. This enables a physical phase shift $ϕ$ to be nonlinearly mapped to a new space $γ (ϕ)$ using linear optics, resulting in a completely general and enhanced phase shifter that can replace any standard one. A particular phase amplifier is experimentally realized, allowing the phase enhancement parameter $d γ / d ϕ$ to be continuously tuned. Placing this enhanced phase shifter in one arm of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer led to an intensity-phase slope more than 20 times steeper than what can be obtained with its unamplified counterpart.

Received 27 October 2023
Accepted 22 April 2024

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.109.053508

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Classical optics Interference & diffraction of light Laser applications Optical interferometry Optics & lasers Phase shift Rotation sensing Sagnac effect Scattering theory

Atomic, Molecular & Optical

Authors & Affiliations

Christopher R. Schwarze ^1,*, David S. Simon ^1,2,†, Abdoulaye Ndao^1,3,‡, and Alexander V. Sergienko ^1,4,§

¹Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Photonics Center, Boston University, 8 Saint Mary's Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA
²Department of Physics and Astronomy, Stonehill College, 320 Washington Street, Easton, Massachusetts 02357, USA
³Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093, USA
⁴Department of Physics, Boston University, 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, USA

^*crs2@bu.edu
^†simond@bu.edu
^‡a1ndao@ucsd.edu
^§alexserg@bu.edu

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Vol. 109, Iss. 5 — May 2024

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