Stable single-photon interference in a 1 km fiber-optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer with continuous phase adjustment

We experimentally demonstrate stable and user-adjustable single-photon interference in a 1 km long fiber-optic Mach-Zehnder interferometer, using an active phase control system with the feedback provided by a classical laser. We are able to continuously tune the single-photon phase difference between the interferometer arms using a phase modulator, which is synchronized with the gate window of the single-photon detectors. The phase control system employs a piezoelectric fiber stretcher to stabilize the phase drift in the interferometer. A single-photon net visibility of 0.97 is obtained, yielding future possibilities for experimental realizations of quantum repeaters in optical fibers and violation of Bell's inequalities using genuine energy-time entanglement.     

NbN superconducting nanowire single photon detector with efficiency over 90% at 1550 nm wavelength operational at compact cryocooler temperature

The rapid development of superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors over the past decade has led to numerous advances in quantum information technology. The record for the best system detection efficiency at an incident photon wavelength of 1550 nm is 93%. This performance was attained from a superconducting nanowire single-photon detector made of amorphous WSi; such detectors are usually operated at sub-Kelvin temperatures. In this study, we first demonstrate superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors made of polycrystalline NbN with system detection efficiency of 90.2% for 1550-nm-wavelength photons at 2.1 K, accessible with a compact cryocooler. The system detection efficiency saturated at 92.1% when the temperature was lowered to 1.8 K. We expect the results lighten the practical and high performance superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors to quantum information and other high-end applications.     

Structural, electronic, vibrational, and elastic properties of SWCNTs doped with B and N: an ab initio study

A microscopic model is developed in order to analyse the effects of dissipations on single-photon transport in a coupled cavity array where one of the cavities is coupled to a three-level atom and both cavities and the three-level atom are coupled to an external environment. By employing the quasi-boson approach, the single-photon transmission and reflection amplitudes are found exactly for the Ξ-type, V-type and Λ-type three-level atoms. We focus on the dissipation properties in the case of the Λ-type system. Comparing the dissipative case with the nodissipative one, it can be found that the dissipations of the cavities and the Λ-type three-level atom significantly affect the transmission amplitude of single-photon transport. Whether the atom is in tune with the resonant frequency of the cavity or not, incomplete reflection is mostly caused by atom dissipation near the middle dip of the single-photon transport spectrum, while reduced transmission appears to be mainly controlled by cavity dissipation. Dissipations broaden the line width of the single photon transport spectrum.     

Atmospheric turbulence and orbital angular momentum of single photons for optical communication

The effects of propagation through random aberrations on coherence for single-photon communication systems based on orbital angular momentum states are quantified. A rotational coherence function is derived which leads to scattering equations for azimuthal modes of different orbital angular momentum states. The effect on a single-photon communication system is quantified using the channel capacity. The work shows that the decoherence effect of atmospheric turbulence on such systems is important even for weak turbulence.     

基于弱相干光的实际QKD系统的安全性研究

实际量子密钥分发系统使用的单光子源主要是由弱激光脉冲经衰减得到。它不是理想单光子源而是服从泊松分布的准单光子源。每个非空光脉冲中包含多光子的概率不为零,强大的窃听者可利用此获得一些关于最终密钥的信息。因此,有必要研究实际QKD系统的安全性。采用对多光子进行分束窃听、单光子最佳攻击相结合的方案,用Shannon信息理论分析了基于弱相干光的实际QKD系统的安全性。研究结果表明实际QKD系统对于分束窃听和最佳攻击是安全的,并给出合法通信双方在该攻击方案下所容忍的误码率上限。     

单光子纠缠态的纠缠转移和量子隐形传态

使用光学分束器和单光子源,利用单光子态和真空态制备出了纠缠单光子态.利用光学分束器作用和单光子探测,实现了三个通讯伙伴之间的纠缠转移.提出了一个关于纠缠单光子态的量子隐形传态方案.在这个方案中,被传送的是一个未知的单光子纠缠态.通讯双方使用的量子信道是两个单光子纠缠态.通过使用分束器作用和对输出态进行光子测量以及在经典信息的帮助下,纠缠转移和量子隐形传态的过程被完成.     

Passively stabilized single-photon interferometer

A single-photon interferometer is a fundamental element in quantum information science. In most previously reported works, single-photon interferometers use an active feedback locking system to stabilize the relative phase between two arms of the interferometer. Here, we use a pair of beam displacers to construct a passively stable single-photon interferometer. The relative phase stabilization between the two arms is achieved by stabilizing the temperature of the beam displacers. A purely polarized single-photon-level pulse is directed into the interferometer input port. By analyzing and measuring the polarization states of the single-photon pulse at the output port, the achieved polarization fidelity of the interferometer is about 99.1 ±0.1%. Our passively stabilized single-photon interferometer provides a key element for generating high-fidelity entanglement between a photon and atomic memory.     

Highly efficient single-photon detection at communication wavelengths by use of upconversion in reverse-proton-exchanged periodically poled LiNbO3 waveguides

Conventional single-photon detectors at communication wavelengths suffer from low quantum efficiencies and large dark counts. We present a single-photon detection system, operating at communication wavelengths, based on guided-wave frequency upconversion in a nonlinear crystal with an overall system detection efficiency (upconversion + detection) exceeding 46% at 1.56 microm. This system consists of a fiber-pigtailed reverse-proton-exchanged periodically poled LiNbO3 waveguide device in conjunction with a silicon-based single-photon counting module.     

Photon blockade in a cavity-atom optomechanical system

We study the single-photon blockade (1PB), two-photon blockade (2PB), and photon-induced tunneling (PIT) effects in a cavity-atom optomechanical system in which a two-level atom is coupled to a single-model cavity field via a two-photon interaction. By analyzing the eigenenergy spectrum of the system, we obtain a perfect 1PB with a high occupancy probability of single-photon excitation, which means that a high-quality and efficient single-photon source can be generated. However, PIT often occurs in many cases when we consider 2PB in analogy to 1PB. In addition, we find that a 2PB region will present in the optomechanical system, which can be proved by calculating the correlation function of the model analytically.     

Single-photon detection and its applications

A single-photon detector is an extremely sensitive device capable of registering photons,offering essential technical support for optics quantum information applications.We review herein our recent experimental progress in the development and application of single-photon detection techniques.Techniques based on advanced self-differencing,low-pass filtering,frequency up-conversion and photon-number-resolving are introduced for attaining high-speed,high-efficiency,low-noise single-photon detection at infrared wavelengths.The advantages of high-speed single-photon detection are discussed in some applications,such as the laser ranging and quantum key distribution.The photon-number-resolving detection is shown to support efficient quantum random number generation.     

Spectrum of Single-Photon Scattering in a Strong-Coupling Hybrid Optomechanical System

The single-photon excitation and transmission spectra of strong-coupling hybrid optomechanics are theoretically analyzed, where a two-level system (TLS) is coupled to a mechanical resonator (MR), generating Jaynes–Cummings-type polariton doublets. In this model, both the optomechanical coupling and the TLS-MR coupling are strong. In this parameter region, polaron-assisted excitation reemission processes can strongly affect the single-photon excitation and output spectra of the cavity. It is found that the fine structure around each sideband can be used to characterize the TLS-MR and the effective TLS-photon couplings, even at the single-quantum level. Thus, the spectrum structures may make it possible to sensitively probe the quantum nature of a macroscopic mechanical element. A possible approach for tomographic reconstruction of the state of a TLS, utilizing the single-photon transmission spectra, is further provided.     

Quick single-photon detector with many avalanche photo diodes working on the time division

Due to the limit of response speed of the present single-photon detector, the code rate is still too low to come into practical use for the present quantum key distribution (QKD) system.A new idea is put up to design a quick single-photon detector.This quick single-photon detector is composed of a multi-port optic-fiber splitter and many avalanche photo diodes (APDs).Au of the ports with APDs work on the time division and cooperate with a logic discriminating and deciding unit driven by the clock signal.The operation frequency lies on the number N of ports, and can reach N times of the conventional single-photon detector.The single-photon prompt detection can come true for high repetition-rate pulses.The applying of this detector will largely raise the code rate of the QKD, and boost the commercial use.     

基于偏振纠缠光子对的单光子源

提出了一种基于参量下转换纠缠光子对获得单光子源的实验方案,并对实验的光路、数据采集方面做了详细介绍.实验结果显示,由此方案获得的单光子源的品质要优于弱相干光式的单光子源两个数量级,即多光子光脉冲出现的概率降低了100倍.实验结果表明此方案有望得到实际应用. 关键词： 单光子源 参量下转换 反符合测量     

Storage and recall of single-photon states in systems with controlled phase matching

The possibilities of cavity-assisted quantum storage based on control-field angular manipulation during off-resonant Raman interaction between a single-photon pulse and a strong control field in a polyatomic system are discussed.     

量子密码通信中量子比特率理论分析

在量子密钥分配中,量子比特率是一个重要的系统参数。通过引入测量因子和筛选因子,建立了基于理想单光子源和泊松分布单光子源的量子比特率理论模型,给出了量子比特率的表达式,并对两种单光子源进行了比较分析。结果表明,当平均光子数大于1时,泊松分布单光子源能被优化。在发射机脉冲重复率一定的条件下,采用泊松分布单光子源无法达到理想单光子源的量子比特率,这是为保密通信所必须付出的代价。     

Coherent population trapping resonances in the problem of quantum filtering of light pulses

The conditions necessary to implement a single-photon pulse source using quantum filtering based on the coherent population trapping phenomenon in N-systems of atomic levels are determined. The dependences of dark resonance characteristics on laser field intensities are experimentally measured in Rb vapor. These dependences define optimum intensity ratios and pulse durations of used laser beams, at which the system can efficiently operate as a single-photon quantum filter.     

Single-photon compressive imaging with some performance benefits over raster scanning

A single-photon imaging system based on compressed sensing has been developed to image objects under ultra-low illumination. With this system, we have successfully realized imaging at the single-photon level with a single-pixel avalanche photodiode without point-by-point raster scanning. From analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio in the measurement we find that our system has much higher sensitivity than conventional ones based on point-by-point raster scanning, while the measurement time is also reduced.     

Single-Photon Momentum Displacement in Resonator Array with Optomechanics

We present the single-photon scattering in a resonator array system with optomechanical by solving the Lippmann-Schwinger equation iteratively. Up to the first order of the radiation pressure interaction, the single-photon transport is formulated as a three-channel scattering process. We calculate the scattering currents in different channels and obtain the transmission spectrum which shows a momentum displacement effect.     

Tripartite single-photon entangled states in noisy quantum channels

A tripartite single-photon state shared through noisy quantum channels is considered for three different system configurations. The quantum teleportation of a single-photon state between two parties is investigated in cases with and without the assistance of a third party. The condition that the quantum teleportation is superior to the classical one is provided in terms of the damping rate and detector efficiency.     

On the resistance of relativistic quantum cryptography in open space at finite resources

The security of keys for the basic nonrelativistic BB84 protocol has been examined for more than 15 years. A simple proof of security for the case of a single-photon source of quantum states and finite sequences has been only recently obtained using entropy uncertainty relations. However, the existing sources of states are not strictly single-photon. Since sources are not single-photon and losses in a quantum channel??open space??are not a priori known and vary, nonrelativistic quantum cryptographic systems in open space cannot guarantee the unconditional security of keys. Recently proposed relativistic quantum cryptography removes fundamental constraints associated with non-single-photon sources and losses in open space. The resistance of a fundamentally new family of protocols for relativistic quantum key distribution through open space has been analyzed for the real situation with finite lengths of transmitted sequences of quantum states. This system is stable with real sources of non-single-photon states (weakened laser radiation) and arbitrary losses in open space.