In this Letter, we report a polarization-entangled photon-pair source based on type-II spontaneous parametric downconversion at telecom O-band in periodically poled silica fiber (PPSF). The photon-pair source exhibits more than 130 nm ( ∼ 24 T H z ) emission bandwidth centered at 1306.6 nm. The broad emission spectrum results in a short biphoton correlation time, and we experimentally demonstrate a Hong–Ou–Mandel interference dip with a full width of 26.6 fs at half-maximum. Owing to the low birefringence of the PPSF, the biphotons generated from type-II SPDC are polarization-entangled over the entire emission bandwidth, with a measured fidelity to a maximally entangled state greater than 95.4%. The biphoton source provides the broadest bandwidth entangled biphotons at O-band to our knowledge.
In this Letter, we report a polarization-entangled photon-pair source based on type-II spontaneous parametric downconversion at telecom O-band in periodically poled silica fiber (PPSF). The photon-pair source exhibits more than 130 nm ( ∼ 24 T H z ) emission bandwidth centered at 1306.6 nm. The broad emission spectrum results in a short biphoton correlation time, and we experimentally demonstrate a Hong–Ou–Mandel interference dip with a full width of 26.6 fs at half-maximum. Owing to the low birefringence of the PPSF, the biphotons generated from type-II SPDC are polarization-entangled over the entire emission bandwidth, with a measured fidelity to a maximally entangled state greater than 95.4%. The biphoton source provides the broadest bandwidth entangled biphotons at O-band to our knowledge.
Entangled photons are a fundamental resource in quantum applications. Broadband entangled photon sources have been used in applications such as high-resolution quantum sensing and wavelength-multiplexed quantum communication. In particular, in fiber-based quantum applications such as long-distance quantum clock synchronization and quantum key distribution in deployed fiber networks, a practical entangled source that is robust and compatible with silica fiber is highly sought after. Periodically poled silica fiber (PPSF) has been demonstrated to be a promising resource of entangled photon-pairs. PPSF uses the induced second-order nonlinearity in poled fiber to generate polarization-entangled photon pairs based on type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion. The negligible group birefringence of the PPSF ensures high-quality and broadband polarization entanglement without compensation, making it particularly suitable for these quantum applications. The PPSF-based source has a lot of potentials to be tapped because of its high entanglement quality, broadband emission bandwidth, simple structure, and its compatibility with the existing fiber infrastructure. In this thesis, I focus on the development of the PPSF-based entangled photon sources. I first investigate the design and the manufacturing process of the PPSF where I try to produce PPSF with improved performance and innovative properties. Next, I study the compensation-free nature of the PPSF-based polarization entanglement source and discuss the interplay between dispersion, birefringence, emission bandwidth, and polarization entanglement. Based on the theory, a commercial PPSF-based photon-pair source prototype is developed and patented. It has to my knowledge the simplest design of all polarization-entangled sources reported so far in the literature. Furthermore, I broaden the biphoton bandwidth by building a PPSF photon-pair source that emits biphotons at telecom O-band. With more than 24THz bandwidth, the biphotons generated in this source are the broadest of all O-band polarization-entangled photon sources reported to my knowledge. I also propose and experimentally demonstrate a polarization-frequency hyperentangled photon source using PPSF, which provides higher dimensionality by making use of entanglement in multiple degrees of freedom. Overall, this thesis contributes to the development of PPSF technology for practical quantum applications. I anticipate that the PPSF-based photon-pair source will play an important role in the era of quantum technology.
Quantum sources that provide broadband biphotons entangled in both polarization and time-energy degrees of freedom are a rich quantum resource that finds many applications in quantum communication, sensing, and metrology. Creating such a source while maintaining high entanglement quality over a broad spectral range is a challenge, which conventionally requires various compensation steps to erase temporal, spectral, or spatial distinguishabilities. Here, we point out that in fact compensation is not always necessary. The key to generate broadband polarization-entangled biphotons via type-II spontaneous parametric downcoversion (SPDC) without compensation is to use nonlinear materials with sufficiently low group birefringence that the biphoton bandwidth becomes dispersion-limited. Most nonlinear crystals or waveguides cannot meet this condition, but it is easily met in fiber-based systems. We reveal the interplay of group birefringence and dispersion on SPDC bandwidth and polarization entanglement quality. We show that periodically poled silica fiber (PPSF) is an ideal medium to generate high-concurrence (>0.977) polarization-entangled photons over a broad spectral range (>77nm), directly and without compensation. This is the highest polarization-entanglement concurrence reported that is maintained over a broad spectral range from a compensation-free source.
The time-energy entangled photon source is a core resource in quantum key distribution, quantum teleportation, and quantum metrology. The output of orthogonally polarized photon pairs can enhance the effective coincidence counts of the entangled source in these applications. Additionally, an all-fiber entangled source offers small size and high mobility advantages. However, most current orthogonally polarized all-fiber time-energy entangled sources are limited to a bandwidth of around 1 nm, which is detrimental to the effective utilization of channel resources in fiber networks and restricts precision in quantum metrology. To address this issue, we employ a fiber-coupled 775 nm narrow linewidth pump laser in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide to achieve type-II spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC). This results in an all-fiber orthogonally polarized time-energy entangled photon source with a bandwidth greater than 7 nm. We measured the single counts, coincidence counts, coincidence to accidental coincidence ratio (CAR), single photon spectra, and joint spectral intensity of the entangled source, calculating the Schmidt number S = 7.8. Furthermore, we measured Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference by inserting two 2 nm bandpass filters, and the interference visibility remained around 95.8% after continuous operation for 3 hours. The experimental results indicate that while maintaining an all-fiber structure, this source possesses a broadband range, low noise, and high stability, providing efficient and reliable biphoton resources for applications in quantum communication, quantum networks, and precision metrology.
The frequency entangled photon pairs generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) possess wide applications in quantum optics and relevant fields.To facilitate the practical quantum information technologies,particularly in optical fiber links,a frequency entangled source at telecommunication wavelength with features of compactness,portability,high efficiency and miniaturization is highly desired.In this paper,we report the experimental generation of a miniaturized frequency entangled source in telecommunication band from a 10 mm-long type-Ⅱ periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide pumped by a 780 nm distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser diode.The frequency entangled photon pairs generated by SPDC possess wide applications in quantum optics and relevant fields.When the DBR laser diode is driven by a current of 170 mA at a temperature controlled to 20℃,the output power is measured to be 70.4 mW with a central wavelength of 780.585 nm.Under this pump,the orthogonally-polarized photon pairs are generated and output from the PPLN waveguide.After filtering out the remaining pump by three high-performance long-pass filters mounted on an adjustable U-type fiber bench,the photon-pair generation rate,spectral and temporal properties of the generated frequency entangled source are measured.The results show that the generation rate of the photon pairs,after being corrected for the detection efficiencies of the single photon detectors and the optical losses,is achieved to be 1.86×107 s-1 at a pump power of 44.9 mW (coupled into the waveguide).Optimizing the working temperature of the waveguide and fixing it at 46.5℃,the frequency degeneracy of the SPDC generated photon pairs is realized.Based on the coincidence measurement setup together with two infrared spectrometers,the spectra of the signal and idler photons are obtained with their center wavelengths of 1561.43 nm and 1561.45 nm,and their 3-dB bandwidths of 3.62 nm and 3.60 nm respectively.The joint spectrum of the photon pair is observed,showing a joint spectrum bandwidth of 3.18 nm.The degree of frequency entanglement is quantified to be 1.13 according to the bandwidth ratio between the single photon spectrum and the joint spectrum.Furthermore,based on the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferometric coincidence measurement setup,a visibility of about 96.1% is observed,which indicates the very good frequency indistinguishibility of the down-converted biphotons.The measured 3-dB width of the HOM dip is 1.47 ps and shows good agreement with the measured single-photon spectral bandwidth.The experimental results lay a solid foundation for developing portable,miniaturized frequency entangled sources at telecommunication band for the further applications in quantum information areas,such as quantum time synchronization.