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arXiv:1210.1387 · Optics Express

Simple performance evaluation of pulsed spontaneous parametric down-conversion sources for quantum communications

Jean-Loup Smirr, Sylvain Guilbaud, Joe Ghalbouni, Robert Frey, Eleni Diamanti, Romain Alléaume, Isabelle Zaquine

Published Jan 5, 2011• 8 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Fast characterization of pulsed spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) sources is important for applications in quantum information processing and communications. We propose a simple method to perform this task, which only requires measuring the counts on the two output channels and the coincidences between them, as well as modeling the filter used to reduce the source bandwidth. The proposed method is experimentally tested and used for a complete evaluation of SPDC sources (pair emission probability, total losses, and fidelity) of various bandwidths. This method can find applications in the setting up of SPDC sources and in the continuous verification of the quality of quantum communication links.

DOI
10.1364/oe.19.000616

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Fast characterization of pulsed spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) sources is important for applications in quantum information processing and communications. We propose a simple method to perform this task, which only requires measuring the counts on the two output channels and the coincidences between them, as well as modeling the filter used to reduce the source bandwidth. The proposed method is experimentally tested and used for a complete evaluation of SPDC sources (pair emission probability, total losses, and fidelity) of various bandwidths. This method can find applications in the setting up of SPDC sources and in the continuous verification of the quality of quantum communication links.
Spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC) sources are an essential element of quantum communication and quantum information processing systems. Their quality can be hampered by spectral, temporal, or spatial distinguishability of the two photons of a generated pair. Even when such defects have been corrected, the ultimate quality of the SPDC source is limited by the intrinsic multiple pair generation. In this paper, the effect of transmission, filtering and detection losses and asymmetrical spectral bandwidths in the photon pair paths on the visibility of the two-photon interference delivered by the SPDC source and its useful pair rate are investigated. In this investigation, two subcases are distinguished: deterministic and statistical splittings of the generated pairs, whatever the coherence of the multiple pairs. We show that the visibility is strongly degraded by a spectral bandwidth asymmetry, while the losses mainly affect the measured coincidence probability. The deterministic splitting configuration is shown to be generally more advantageous, although statistical splitting may present some advantages in applications with a narrow bandwidth requirement, such as those involving quantum memories. Moreover, while pump-induced optical noise only produces small visibility reductions, dark counts of the single-photon detectors are shown to limit the maximum possible visibility, particularly in the case of high-loss photon pair sources. Because our model quantifies the intrinsic limitations due to double pair emission in a simple way, the results presented can be used to optimize the design of SPDC sources and choose the optimum trade-offs between several key parameters such as visibility, generation probabilities, and spectral bandwidth, in particular for small bandwidth SPDC sources in the perspective of quantum networking and computing applications.
Pair creation by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) has become a reliable source for single-photon states, used in many kinds of quantum information experiments and applications. In order to be spectrally pure, the two photons within a generated pair should be as frequency-uncorrelated as possible. For this purpose most experiments use narrow bandpass filters, having to put up with a drastic decrease in count rates. This article elaborates (theoretically and by numerical evaluation) the alternative method to engineer a setup such that the SPDC-generated quantum states are intrinsically pure. Using pulsed pump lasers and periodically poled crystals this approach makes bandpass filtering obsolete and allows for significantly higher output intensities and therefore count rates in the detectors. After numerically scanning all common wavelength regimes, polarisation configurations and three different non-linear crystals, we present a broad variety of setups which allow for an implementation of this method.
Spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) sources are an important technology for quantum sensing and imaging. We demonstrate a general simulation method, based on modeling from first principles, reproducing the spectrally and spatially resolved absolute counts of a SPDC experiment. By additionally simulating parametric up- and down-conversion processes with thermal photons as well as effects of the optical system we accomplish good agreement with the experimental results. This method is broadly applicable and allows for the separation of contributing processes, virtual characterization of SPDC sources, and enables the simulation of many quantum based applications.
In spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) based quantum information processing (QIP) experiments, there is a tradeoff between the coincidence count rates (i.e. the pumping power of the SPDC), which limits the rate of the protocol, and the visibility of the quantum interference, which limits the quality of the protocol. This tradeoff is mainly caused by the multi-photon pair emissions from the SPDCs. In theory, the problem is how to model the experiments without truncating these multi-photon emissions while including practical imperfections. In this paper, we establish a method to theoretically simulate SPDC-based QIPs which fully incorporates the effect of multi-photon emissions and various practical imperfections. The key ingredient in our method is the application of the characteristic function formalism which has been used in continuous variable QIPs. We apply our method to three examples, the Hong–Ou–Mandel interference and the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen interference experiments, and the concatenated entanglement swapping protocol. For the first two examples, we show that our theoretical results quantitatively agree with the recent experimental results. Also we provide the closed expressions for these interference visibilities with the full multi-photon components and various imperfections. For the last example, we provide the general theoretical form of the concatenated entanglement swapping protocol in our method and show the numerical results up to five concatenations. Our method requires only a small computational resource (a few minutes by a commercially available computer), which was not possible in the previous theoretical approach. Our method will have applications in a wide range of SPDC-based QIP protocols with high accuracy and a reasonable computational resource.
Parametric down-conversion (PDC) sources play an important role in quantum information processing, therefore characterizing their properties is necessary. Here we present a statistical model to assess the properties of the PDC source with certain distribution, such as the brightness and photon channel transmissions, we only need to measure the singles and coincidences counts in a few seconds. Furthermore, we validate the model by applying it to a PDC source generating highly non-degenerate photon pairs. The results of the experiment indicate that our method is more simple, efficient, and less time consuming.
Polarization-entangled photon pairs can be efficiently prepared into pure Bell states with a high fidelity via type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) of narrow-band pump light. However, the use of femtosecond pump pulses to generate multiphoton states with precise timing often requires spectral filtering to maintain a high quality of polarization entanglement. This typically reduces the efficiency of photon pair collection. We experimentally map the polarization correlations of photon pairs from such a source over a range of down-converted wavelengths with a high spectral resolution and find strong polarization correlations everywhere. A spectrally dependent imbalance between contributions from the two possible decay paths of SPDC is identified as the reason for a reduction in entanglement quality observed with femtosecond pump pulses. Our spectral measurements allow us to predict the polarization correlations for arbitrary filter profiles when the frequency degree of freedom of the photon pairs is ignored.