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arXiv:1402.2530 · Physical Review Letters

Subnatural-Linewidth Polarization-Entangled Photon Pairs with Controllable Temporal Length

Kai-Yu Liao, Hui Yan, J. He, Shengwang Du, Zhi‐Ming Zhang, Shi-Liang Zhu

Published Jun 20, 2014• 71 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We demonstrate an efficient experimental scheme for producing polarization-entangled photon pairs from spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in a laser-cooled (85)Rb atomic ensemble, with a bandwidth (as low as 0.8 MHz) much narrower than the rubidium atomic natural linewidth. By stabilizing the relative phase between the two SFWM paths in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration, we are able to produce all four Bell states. These subnatural-linewidth photon pairs with polarization entanglement are ideal quantum information carriers for connecting remote atomic quantum nodes via efficient light-matter interaction in a photon-atom quantum network.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.112.243602

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We demonstrate an efficient experimental scheme for producing polarization-entangled photon pairs from spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in a laser-cooled (85)Rb atomic ensemble, with a bandwidth (as low as 0.8 MHz) much narrower than the rubidium atomic natural linewidth. By stabilizing the relative phase between the two SFWM paths in a Mach-Zehnder interferometer configuration, we are able to produce all four Bell states. These subnatural-linewidth photon pairs with polarization entanglement are ideal quantum information carriers for connecting remote atomic quantum nodes via efficient light-matter interaction in a photon-atom quantum network.
We report a polarization-entangled photon-pair source obtained via spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in a Doppler-broadened atomic ensemble of ^{87}Rb atoms using a Sagnac interferometer. Collective two-photon coherence occurs in the Doppler-broadened ladder-type atomic system with bidirectional counterpropagating two-photon resonant pump and coupling fields; hence, polarization-entangled photon pairs are collectively radiated in the phase-matched direction. Without phase stabilization of the interferometry for polarization entanglement, we robustly produce all four Bell states via a polarization Sagnac configuration. The brightness, stability, and temporal purity advantages provided by our polarization-entangled SFWM photon-pair source have very important applications in the context of a practical scalable quantum network.
Entangled photon pairs are critically important in fundamental quantum mechanics research as well as in many areas within the field of quantum information, such as quantum communication, quantum computation, and quantum cryptography. Previous demonstrations of entangled photons based on atomic ensembles were achieved by using a reference laser to stabilize the phase of two spontaneous four-wave mixing paths. Here, we demonstrate a convenient and efficient scheme to generate polarization-entangled photons with a narrow bandwidth of $57.2\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}1.6$ MHz and a high-fidelity of $96.3\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.8%$ by using a phase self-stabilized multiplexing system formed by two beam displacers and two half-wave plates where the relative phase between the different signal paths can be eliminated completely. It is possible to stabilize an entangled photon pair for a long time with this system and produce all four Bell states, making this a vital step forward in the field of quantum information.
We demonstrate a robust scheme to produce narrowband biphotons with polarization-frequency-coupled entanglement from spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in laser cooled atoms with a right-angle geometry. Making use of an acousto-optic modulator and polarization-dependent two-photon interference, we create a coupled hyperentanglement between the polarization and frequency domains from unentangled SFWM photon pairs. We further demonstrate that, making use of the coupling effect, we can transfer the phase of a complex polarizer into the frequency entanglement and create a tunable two-mode frequency entangled Bell state.
Using the process of cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC), we generate a narrow-band polarization-entangled photon pair resonant on the rubidium (Rb) D1 line (795 nm). The degenerate single-mode photon pair is selected by multiple temperature controlled etalons. The linewidth of generated polarization-entangled photon pairs is 15 MHz which matches the typical atomic memory bandwidth. The measured Bell parameter for the polarization-entangled photons S=2.73+-0.04 which violates the Bell-CHSH inequality by ~18 standard deviations. The presented entangled photon pair source could be utilized in quantum communication and quantum computing based on quantum memories in atomic ensemble.
Abstract Entangled photon pairs, termed as biphotons, have been the benchmark tool for experimental quantum optics. The quantum-network protocols based on photon–atom interfaces have stimulated a great demand for single photons with bandwidth comparable to or narrower than the atomic natural linewidth. In the past decade, laser-cooled atoms have often been used for producing such biphotons, but the apparatus is too large and complicated for engineering. Here we report the generation of subnatural-linewidth (<6 MHz) biphotons from a Doppler-broadened (530 MHz) hot atomic vapour cell. We use on-resonance spontaneous four-wave mixing in a hot paraffin-coated 87Rb vapour cell at 63 °C to produce biphotons with controllable bandwidth (1.9–3.2 MHz) and coherence time (47–94 ns). Our backward phase-matching scheme with spatially separated optical pumping is the key to suppress uncorrelated photons from resonance fluorescence. The result may lead towards miniature narrowband biphoton sources.
Biphotons and single photons with narrow bandwidths and long coherence times are essential to the realization of long-distance quantum communication (LDQC) and linear optical quantum computing (LOQC). In this Letter, we manipulate the biphoton wave functions of the spontaneous four-wave mixing in a two-level atomic ensemble with a single-laser pump scheme. Our innovative experimental approach enables the generation of biphotons with a sub-MHz bandwidth of 0.36 MHz, a record spectral brightness of 2.28×10^{7} s^{-1} mW^{-1} MHz^{-1}, and a temporally symmetric wave packet at moderate optical depth. The strong nonclassical cross-correlation of the biphotons also enables the observation of heralded sub-MHz-linewidth single photons with a pronounced single-photon nature. The generation of sub-MHz-linewidth biphotons and single photons with a two-level atomic ensemble not only finds applications in quantum repeaters and large cluster states for LDQC and LOQC but also opens up the opportunity to miniaturize the biphoton or single-photon sources for chip-scale quantum technologies.