Photonic Crystal Fiber Source of Quantum Correlated Photon Pairs in the 1550nm Telecom Band

A source of quantum correlated photon pairs in the 155Onto telecom band obtained by a pumping 11 m photonic crystal fiber with lOps pulse trains is experimentally demonstrated. We investigate how the birefringence of the fiber influences the purity of the photon pairs. We also present the frequency correlation of the signal and idler photon pairs. The experimental results are useful for developing a compact source of photon pairs well suited for quantum communication.     

Fiber-based source of photon pairs at telecom band with high temporal coherence and brightness for quantum information processing

We experimentally demonstrate a bright pulsed source of correlated photon pairs at the 1550 nm telecom band by pumping 300 m dispersion-shifted fiber with a 4 ps pulse train. We investigate the coherence property of the source by measuring the second-order intensity correlation function g(2) of individual signal (idler) photons. A preliminary Hong-Ou-Mandel-type two-photon interference experiment with two such sources confirms the high temporal and spatial coherence of the source. The source is suitable for multiphoton quantum interference of independent sources, which is required in quantum information processing.     

基于色散位移光纤的高宣布式窄带单光子源

文章利用脉冲激光抽运色散位移光纤,通过自发四波混频过程产生的关联光子对,实验演示了一种光通讯波段的窄带宣布式单光子源. 实验测得-3 dB带宽为1.1 nm单光子场的二阶关联函数g⁽²⁾(0)=0.09±0.01,宣布效率可达0.5以上. 这种单光子源在量子通信中有潜在的应用前景. 关键词： 宣布式单光子 光纤 自发四波混频 量子通信     

基于Ⅱ类周期极化铌酸锂波导的通信波段小型化频率纠缠源产生及其量子特性测量

自发参量下转换过程制备的纠缠光源在量子光学及其相关领域有着广泛的应用.本文利用780 nm的分布式布拉格反射镜激光二极管抽运一块长10 mm的Ⅱ类准相位匹配的周期极化铌酸锂波导,产生了偏振正交的频率反关联纠缠光子对.通过实验结果与理论的完美结合得到,当进入波导的抽运光功率为44.9 mW时,下转换双光子对的产生速率为1.87×10~7s~(-1).利用单色仪对下转换光子的频谱进行分析,得到信号和闲置光子的中心波长分别为1561.43 nm和1561.45 nm,频谱宽度为3.62 nm和3.60 nm,双光子符合包络宽度约为3.18 nm,可以得到双光子的频率纠缠度为1.131.00,表征了双光子的频率纠缠特性.利用Hong-Ou-Mandel干涉仪测量双光子的二阶量子干涉特性,测得的干涉可见度为96.1%,干涉图谱的凹陷宽度为1.47 ps.     

基于光子晶体光纤的高纯度量子关联光子对的制备

使用脉冲光在室温下抽运一根长1 m 的高非线性光子晶体光纤, 产生了中心波长分别位于830 nm 和1411 nm的具有量子关联性的闲频与信号光子. 实验中闲频和信号通道的带宽分别是15 nm和35 nm. 对单通道光子计数率的拟合结果显示光子几乎全部来源于光纤中的自发四波混频过程, 未受到Raman散射噪声的影响. 当闲频和信号通道的光子产生率约为每脉冲0.0085个时, 测得符合计数率与随机符合计数率的比值为102, 接近理论极限, 不仅证明了光子对的低噪声性, 而且表明所产生的光子对本身具有窄带频谱特性, 因而实验中对其收集效率很高. 此外, 这种高纯度关联光子对还联接了不同波段, 在量子信息技术中有着潜在的应用.     

利用光纤中自发四波混频产生纠缠光子的实验装置

基于三阶非线性Kerr效应在光纤中产生非线性现象的理论,利用零色散位移光纤中的自发四波混频通过两种实验装置产生了纠缠光子：一种是采用脉冲光抽运由光纤构成的Sagnac光纤环;另一种是采用脉冲光直接抽运一段光纤.通过对不同装置下实验结果的比较,总结了产生高纯度纠缠光子所需的实验条件,并指出了两种装置各自的优缺点.这为研制适用于量子通信的全光纤纠缠光源和单光子源奠定了基础. 关键词： 纠缠光子 光纤 四波混频 量子通信     

脉冲抽运光啁啾对全光纤量子关联光子对纯度的影响

信号与闲置光子波长均为1550 nm 通信波段的全光纤关联光子对源, 具有低成本以及可与现有光纤网络低损耗连接的特点. 进一步优化其纯度, 将有助于提高这种量子光源的实用化程度.当抽运脉冲光在光纤中传输时, 由于色散和Kerr非线性效应的影响, 会不可避免地引入啁啾. 本文利用脉冲激光抽运零色散位移光纤, 研究了抽运光啁啾对关联光子对纯度的影响. 结果表明, 通信波段小失谐关联光子对的纯度随啁啾的增大而下降. 若采用变换极限的锁模激光为抽运源, 将有助于抑制Raman散射对自发四波混频的影响, 提高光子对的纯度. 关键词： 关联光子对 光纤 自发四波混频 啁啾     

Differential-phase quantum key distribution experiment using a series of quantum entangled photon pairs

We report what we believe to be the first differential-phase quantum key distribution experiment using a series of quantum entangled photon pairs. We employed two outstanding techniques. As an entangled photon source, we used a 1.5 microm band entangled photon pair source based on spontaneous four-wave mixing in a cooled dispersion-shifted fiber. As receivers, photon pairs were actively phase modulated with LiNbO3 phase modulators followed by very stable planar light-wave circuit Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which provided two nonorthogonal measurements. As a consequence, we successfully generated sifted keys with a quantum bit error rate of 8.3% and a key generation rate of 0.3 bit/s and revealed the feasibility of this QKD scheme.     

Nonclassical interference and entanglement generation using a photonic crystal fiber pair photon source

We demonstrate two key components for optical quantum information processing: a bright source of heralded single photons; and a bright source of entangled photon pairs. A pair of pump photons produces a correlated pair of photons at widely spaced wavelengths (583 nm and 900 nm), via a chi((3)) four-wave mixing process. We demonstrate nonclassical interference between heralded photons from independent sources with a visibility of 95% (after correction for background), and an entangled photon pair source, with a fidelity of 89% with a Bell state.     

两个独立全光纤多通道光子纠缠源的Hong-Ou-Mandel干涉

独立光子源的干涉是实现复杂量子体系应用(比如多光子纠缠态产生和量子隐形传态等)的核心技术.利用100 GHz密集波分复用技术,实现了1.55μm全光纤多通道独立纠缠光子源的Hong-Ou-Mandel干涉,在不去除暗符合(随机符合计数)的情况下,可见度为53.2%±8.4%,去除暗符合可见度可达到82.9%±5.3%.给出了关于色散位移光纤中基于自发四波混频过程产生的单光子光谱纯度严格的理论描述,模拟了抽运脉冲宽度和滤波器带宽对单光子光谱纯度的影响,并给出了理论上的最佳条件(最佳的抽运脉冲宽度为8 ps,高斯滤波器带宽为40 GHz及以下).在测量Hong-Ou-Mandel干涉之前,先测量了液氮冷却状态下的色散位移光纤关联光子源的符合和随机符合比率,在抽运功率为23μW的情况下,最大比率可以达到131.Hong-Ou-Mandel干涉在高精度光学测量、测量装置无关的量子密钥分配等应用中扮演着极为重要的角色.     

Generation of correlated photon pairs in a microstructure fiber

We propose and experimentally demonstrate a new method of generating correlated photons in a microstructure fiber by means of a reversed degenerate four-wave-mixing process. Here one photon is annihilated from each of the bichromatic pump pulses to generate a pair of photons at the mean frequency. For a microstructure fiber as short as 1.5 m the measured coincidence counting rate is approximately eight times that of the accidental coincidences with a peak pump power of 0.25 W.     

利用高非线性光纤产生量子关联光子对的实验研究

光纤中基于三阶(克尔)非线性效应的自发四波混频是制备量子关联光子对的有效方法之一。若采用商售高非线性光纤作为产生光子对的非线性介质,则有利于减小所需光纤的长度,从而缩小实验装置体积并降低对于抽运源的要求。利用脉冲光抽运20m的高非线性光纤产生通讯波段的频率近简并关联光子对,研究了光纤的弱双折射特性对于光子对产生的影响。当抽运光沿高非线性光纤的偏振轴入射时,具有最大的光子对产生效率,且光子对绝大部分与抽运光偏振平行;抽运光沿与光纤偏振轴45°入射时,光子对的产生效率最小,约为最大值的80%。     

多波段相关光子光谱分布与时间相关性测量实验研究

基于相关光子的定标技术能够实现“无标准传递”绝对定标,研究相关光子的光谱辐射特性及时间相关特性对遥感器在宽波段的辐射定标具有重要意义。为满足光电探测器在宽谱段量子效率定标需求,基于相关光子的定标技术有必要从单一波段向更多波段扩展。根据自发参量下转换所满足的相位匹配条件,推导出相关光子在晶体内的非共线角计算公式,通过数值模拟相关光子光谱辐射角度分布规律,优化晶体相位匹配角,使得自发参量下转换产生的相关光子具有宽光谱分布,并且相关光子辐射角度与光谱波长能够一一对应。根据光谱分布数值模拟结果,建立了多波段相关光子的光谱分布和时间相关性测量实验系统,利用该系统测量了四对相关光子的光谱分布、符合计数、相关时间以及偏振特性。其中,测量的光谱分布范围为633~808 nm,最大光谱分布测量偏差为1.51 mm,光谱分布实验测量结果与数值模拟结果符合一致;测量了四对相关光子对的相关时间,最小相关时间为0.32 ns,并在实验中观察到了“符合三峰”现象;相关光子单光子计数及符合计数与泵浦光的偏振方向呈正弦函数关系。实验研究表明,相关光子对具有可见光~近红外宽波段分布、时间相关及偏振特性。论文研究结果在国内外尚属首次报道,该研究结果有望应用于光电探测器在多波段的辐射定标。     

Generation of high-purity telecom-band entangled photon pairs in dispersion-shifted fiber

We study the purity of correlated photon pairs generated in a dispersion-shifted fiber at various temperatures. The ratio of coincidence to accidental-coincidence counts greater than 100 can be obtained as the fiber is cooled to liquid-nitrogen temperature (77 K). We then generate polarization-entangled photon pairs by using a compact counterpropagating scheme. Two-photon interference with visibility >98% and Bell's inequality violation by >8 standard deviations of measurement uncertainty are observed at 77 K, without subtracting the accidental-coincidence counts due to background Raman photons.     

High-performance guided-wave asynchronous heralded single-photon source

We report on a guided-wave asynchronous heralded single-photon source based on the creation of nondegenerate photon pairs by spontaneous parametric downconversion in a periodically poled lithium niobate wave-guide. We show that, by use of the signal photon at 1310 nm as a trigger, a gated detection process permits announcement of the arrival of single photons at 1550 nm at the output of a single-mode optical fiber with a high probability of 0.37. At the same time the multiphoton emission probability is reduced by a factor of 10 compared with Poissonian light sources. Furthermore, the model we have developed to calculate those figures of merit is shown to be accurate. This study can therefore serve as a paradigm for the conception of new quantum communication and computation networks.     

A single-crystal source of path/polarization entanglement at non-degenerate wavelengths

We demonstrate a bright, narrowband, compact, quasi-phase-matched single-crystal source generating path-polarization-entangled photon pairs at 810 nm and 1550 nm at a maximum rate of 3 × 10⁶ s⁻¹ THz⁻¹ mW⁻¹ after coupling to single-mode fiber, and with two-photon interference visibility above 90%. While the source can already be used to implement quantum communication protocols such as quantum key distribution, this work is also instrumental for narrowband applications such as entanglement transfer from photonic to atomic qubits, or entanglement of photons from independent sources.     

Slow-light enhanced correlated photon pair generation in a silicon photonic crystal waveguide

We report the generation of correlated photon pairs in the telecom C-band at room temperature from a dispersion-engineered silicon photonic crystal waveguide. The spontaneous four-wave mixing process producing the photon pairs is enhanced by slow-light propagation enabling an active device length of less than 100?μm. With a coincidence to accidental ratio of 12.8 at a pair generation rate of 0.006 per pulse, this ultracompact photon pair source paves the way toward scalable quantum information processing realized on-chip.     

Generation of correlated photons in controlled spatial modes by downconversion in nonlinear waveguides

We report the observation of correlated photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric downconversion of a 400-nm pump pulse in a quasi-phase-matched KTiOPO(4) nonlinear waveguide. The highest ratio of coincidence to single-photon count rates observed near 800 nm exceeds 18%. This suggests that nonlinear waveguides will be a promising source of correlated photons for metrology and quantum information processing applications. We also discuss possibilities of controlling the spatial characteristics of the downconverted photons produced in multimode waveguide structures.     

Quantum cryptography based on quantum dots

Network protocols are formulated for the phase-coding and correlated-photon-pairs quantum cryptosystems. These protocols are free of the restriction imposed on the distance between the two legitimate users by the transmission loss in the optical fiber. A single-photon source and a source of correlated photon pairs based on quantum dots are proposed. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 63, No. 8, 646–651 (25 April 1996) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Femtosecond fiber laser at 780 nm for two-photon autofluorescence imaging

We present an Er-doped fiber(Er:fiber)-based femtosecond laser at 780 nm with 256 MHz repetition rate, 191 fs pulse duration, and over 1 W average power. Apart from the careful third-order dispersion management, we introduce moderate self-phase modulation to broaden the output spectrum of the Er:fiber amplifier and achieve 193 fs pulse duration and 2.43 W average power. Over 40% frequency doubling efficiency is obtained by a periodically poled lithium niobate crystal. Delivering through a hollow-core photonic bandgap fiber, this robust laser becomes an ideal and convenient light source for two-photon autofluorescence imaging.