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arXiv:1309.2532 · Physical Review A

Single-photon frequency conversion in nonlinear crystals

Susanne Blum, G. A. Olivares-Rentería, Carlo Ottaviani, Christoph Becher, Giovanna Morigi

Published Nov 7, 2013• 6 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Frequency conversion of single photons in a nonlinear crystal is theoretically discussed. Losses and noise are included within a Heisenberg-Langevin formalism for the propagating photon field. We calculate the first- and second-order correlation functions of the frequency-converted light when the input is a train of single-photon pulses. This model allows one to identify the requirements on the nonlinear device so that it can be integrated in a quantum network.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.88.053807

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Frequency conversion of single photons in a nonlinear crystal is theoretically discussed. Losses and noise are included within a Heisenberg-Langevin formalism for the propagating photon field. We calculate the first- and second-order correlation functions of the frequency-converted light when the input is a train of single-photon pulses. This model allows one to identify the requirements on the nonlinear device so that it can be integrated in a quantum network.
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Single-photon frequency conversion for quantum interface plays an important role in quantum communications and networks, which is crucial for the realization of quantum memory, faithful entanglement swapping and quantum teleportation. In this talk, I will present our recent experiments about single-photon frequency conversion based on quadratic nonlinear processes. Firstly, we demonstrated spectrum compression of broadband single photons at the telecom wavelength to the near-visible window. A positively chirped single-photon-level laser pulse and a negatively chirped classical one are converted to a narrowband single-photon pulse, with a spectrum compression factor of 58, through sum-frequency generation (SFG), marking a critical step towards coherent photonic interface. Secondly, we demonstrated the nonlinear interaction between two chirped broadband single-photon-level coherent states. A high SFG efficiency of 1.06 × 10−7 is realized, which may be utilized to achieve heralding entanglement at a distance. Finally, we theoretically introduced and experimentally demonstrated single-photon frequency conversion in the telecom band, enabling switching of single photons between dense wavelength-division multiplexing channels. Using cascaded quasi-phase matched sum/difference frequency generation, the signal photon of a photon pair from spontaneous down-conversion is precisely shifted to identically match its counterpart, i.e. idler photon, in frequency to manifest a clear non-classical dip in the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference. Moreover, quantum entanglement between the photon pair is maintained after the frequency conversion. Our researches have realized three significant quantum interfaces via single-photon frequency conversion, which hold great promise for the development of quantum communications and networks.
We report an experiment demonstrating quantum frequency conversion of weak light pulses compatible with atomic quantum memories to telecommunication wavelengths. We use a PPLN nonlinear waveguide to convert weak coherent states at the single photon level with a duration of 30 ns from a wavelength of 780 nm to 1552 nm. We measure a maximal waveguide internal (external) conversion efficiency η(int) = 0.41 (η(ext) = 0.25), and we show that the signal to noise ratio (SNR) is good enough to reduce the input photon number below 1. In addition, we show that the noise generated by the pump beam in the crystal is proportional to the spectral bandwidth of the device, suggesting that narrower filtering could significantly increase the SNR. Finally, we demonstrate that the quantum frequency converter can operate in the quantum regime by converting a time-bin qubit and measuring the qubit fidelity after conversion.
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The colored rings shown in figure 1 are a spectacular manifestation of one type of nonlinear optical frequency conversion: parametric amplification of quantum noise. The amplification in this case is produced by the propagation of an intense pulse of ultraviolet radiation through a crystal of barium borate. When intense electromagnetic radiation propagates through such a material, whose polarization response at optical frequencies manifests a strongly nonlinear dependence on electric field amplitude, nonlinear mixing of the input radiation generates new spectral components. We can exploit this phenomenon to generate coherent radiation at frequencies for which we have no convenient laser sources.