Quantum nonlinear optics for experimental investigations of advanced quantum technologies and fundamental physics

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Quantum and nonlinear optics are two of the most exciting fields of physics today thanks to critical breakthroughs in quantum computing, laser physics, and nonlinear materials. In this proposal, we describe a research program which bring the normally disparate effects from the nonlinear optics laboratory to bear on quantum optical technologies. These ideas will have lasting technological impact in optical imaging and quantum state generation and fundamentally impact our understanding of quantum optics and quantum nonlocality. In the first stream of research, we focus on shaped laser pulse technology where the different colours in a light pulse can be structured or organized. We will use interactions with shaped laser pulses and single photons to compress the bandwidth of single photons so that they can be optimally coupled to single atoms or optical cavities. We propose to develop our invention 'chirped pulse interferometry', a new kind of interferometer which is robust against dispersion, into a noninvasive, high-resolution 3D optical imaging prototype. We also propose to investigate quantum simulation of a theoretically predicted quantum relativistic effect using nonlinear optics. In a second stream of research, we will perform an experimental test of the degree of quantum nonlocality which exists in nature using quantum correlated three-photon states from a nonlinear optical process called down-conversion. These triplets will be transported out of the lab and sent to three independent receiver stations 600m away using direct line-of-sight optical links. Correlations in the measurement results at these stations are predicted to rule out a large class of descriptions of how the world works which have at most two-particle nonlocality. These experiments will be carried out by undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral level researchers. This proposal requests funding for their salaries, travel, equipment, and costs associated with publishing results. Canada will directly benefit from the training of these researchers and the new technologies they develop during the course of this training.