We demonstrate here a compact optical parametric oscillator module for mid-infrared generation via nonlinear frequency conversion. This module weighs only 2.5 kg and fits within a small volume of 220 × 60 × 55 mm³. The module can be easily aligned to various pump laser sources, and here we use a 50 W ytterbium (Yb)-doped fiber laser as an example. With a two-channel MgO-doped periodically poled lithium niobate crystal (MgO:PPLN), our module covers a tuning range of 2416.17–2932.25 nm and 3142.18–3452.15 nm. The highest output power exceeds 10.4 W at 2.7 μm, corresponding to a conversion efficiency of 24%. The measured power stability is 2.13% Root Meat Square (RMS) for a 10 h duration under outdoor conditions.

Entangled photons are important for testing foundations of quantum physics and are at the heart of quantum technology. Integrated photonics has overwhelming dominance in terms of density and performance, making it a promise route for scalable quantum information processing. AlGaAs-based materials having large second-order non-linearities, direct bandgap and strong electro-optical effect can offer distinct advantages in quantum light source. Here we report a non-ideal quarter-wavelength Bragg reflection waveguide for generating three types of spontaneous parametric down-conversion processes. A general solution to the dispersion equation is derived and employed for designing high efficiency devices by taking into account the influence of core layer aluminium concentration. We further design and fabricate a Bragg reflection waveguide sample based on the analysis, and experimentally characterize its phase matching types and spectral brightness. Our work paves the path for the development of portable quantum light sources.

Photonic entanglement is central resource to quantum information sciences, such as quantum communication and quantum computation. The entangled photons generated in conventional spontaneous parametric down-conversion usually yield THz bandwidth which becomes very dim in many applications call for narrow-band entanglement sources. Here we demonstrate the polarization-entanglement photon source with counterpropagating phase matching, which results in an inherent bandwidth of 7.1 GHz at telecom wavelength. The entanglement is measured to violate the Bell inequality by up to 18.5 standard deviations, with Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt S-parameter of 2.720±0.039. The quantum state tomography further characterizes the entanglement, with fidelity F=(95.71±0.61)%.