Center for Photonic Communication and Computing

Abijith's interests lie in fundamental quantum optics experiments and their applications for quantum information and communication sciences. He is also interested in ultrafast optics and pushing toward single-cycle wavepackets of light for nonlinear optics, which combined with nanophotonic devices may lead to single-photon level interactions.

Research:

Experimentally, Abijith worked towards realizing a deterministic all-optical phase-gate for quantum states of light (at single-photon energies) using whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microcavities in Lithium Niobate. WGM microcavities can also lead to tunable quantum statistics of light, including a transition from sub-Poissonian to thermal. A key target is to accomplish antibunched pair-wise emission of photons leading to the generation of deterministic entanglement. 

Theoretically, he investigated the pulsed frequency conversion of waveform-encoded quantum states of light. He is studying both the fundamental quantum limits and the practical engineering limits for the size of the Hilbert space realizable with waveform encoding. This setup can lead to an engineerable system of simultaneous measurements of noncommuting observables and for studying physical limits for joint measurements performed in a d-dimensional Hilbert space for large values of d (d>>1). This theoretical work ties indirectly with the experimental efforts by Paritosh Manurkar.

Publications:

1. A. S. Kowligy, P. Manurkar, N. V. Corzo, V. G. Velev, M. Silver, R. P. Scott, S. J. B. Yoo, P. Kumar, G. S. Kanter, and Y.-P. Huang, “Quantum optical arbitrary waveform manipulation and measurement in real time,” SPIE Photonics West 2015 (Invited paper), paper 9347-31

2. A. S. Kowligy,* P. Manurkar,* N. V. Corzo, V. G. Velev, M. Silver, R. P. Scott, S. J. B. Yoo, P. Kumar, G. S. Kanter and Y. -P. Huang, "Quantum optical arbitrary waveform manipulation and measurement in real time," Opt. Express 22, 27942-27957 (2014) [*denotes equal contribution] http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.22.027942

3. D. V. Strekalov, A. S. Kowligy, Y.-P. Huang and P. Kumar, “Progress towards interaction-free all-optical devices,” Phys. Rev. A 89, 063820 (2014) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.89.063820

4. D. V. Strekalov, A. S. Kowligy, Y.-P. Huang, and P. Kumar, “Optical sum-frequency generation in whispering gallery mode resonators,” New J. Phys. 16, 053025 (2014) doi:10.1088/1367-2630/16/5/053025

5. K. Wang, V. Velev, K. Lee, A. Kowligy, P. Kumar, M. Foster, A. Foster, and Y. Huang, "Multichannel photon-pair generation using hydrogenated amorphous silicon waveguides", Opt. Lett. 39, 914-917 (2014). http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OL.39.000914

6. Y.-P. Huang, A. S. Kowligy, and P. Kumar, "Quantum Optical Arbitrary Waveform Generation" (in preparation)

7. A. Kowligy, P. Kumar, and Y. Huang, "Mode-selective all-optical switching via quantum frequency conversion," in The Rochester Conferences on Coherence and Quantum Optics and the Quantum Information and Measurement meeting, OSA Technical Digest (online) (Optical Society of America, 2013), paper M6.32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/CQO.2013.M6.32

8. D. Strekalov, A. Kowligy, Y. Huang, and P. Kumar, "Observation of Quantum Zeno Blockade in χ(2) Microresonators," in CLEO: 2013, OSA Technical Digest (online) (Optical Society of America, 2013), paper QTu3C.4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/CLEO_QELS.2013.QTu3C.4

9. K. McCusker, Y. Huang, A. Kowligy, and P. Kumar, "Experimental Demonstration of All-Optical Switching Using the Quantum Zeno Effect," in The Rochester Conferences on Coherence and Quantum Optics and the Quantum Information and Measurement meeting, OSA Technical Digest (online) (Optical Society of America, 2013), paper Th4A.2.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/QIM.2013.Th4A.2

10. Kevin T. McCusker, Yu-Ping Huang, Abijith S. Kowligy, and Prem Kumar, "Experimental Demonstration of Interaction-Free All-Optical Switching via the Quantum Zeno Effect," Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 240403 (2013) http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.240403

11. Y. Huang, A. Kowligy, J. Altepeter, and P. Kumar, "Interaction-Free All-Optical Switching via Quantum Zeno Blockade," in Frontiers in Optics 2011/Laser Science XXVII, OSA Technical Digest (Optical Society of America, 2011), paper FThS2. http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/FIO.2011.FThS2

12. Abijith S. Kowligy, Yuping Huang, and Prem Kumar, “All-Optical Switching in chi(2) Microdisks via Quantum Zeno Blockade,” Invited Talk and Poster Presentation at WE.492 Heraeus Foundation Seminar on “Micro- and Macro-cavities in Classical and Non-Classical Light."

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