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arXiv:2207.06117

Bright entangled photon source without stringent crystal temperature and laser frequency stabilization

Singh, Sandeep, Vimlesh Kumar, Ghosh, Anirban, G. K. Samanata

Published Jul 13, 2022• 0 citations
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Abstract

Entangled photon sources (EPS), the major building block for a variety of quantum communication protocols, are commonly developed by utilizing the spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in $χ^{2}$ nonlinear bulk optical materials. While high nonlinearity and long interaction length have established the superiority of the periodically poled crystals for EPSs, the phase-matching condition of such crystals is very sensitive to the fluctuation of the crystal temperature and the laser wavelength. As a result, deploying such sources outside the laboratory, for example, satellite-based applications, demands a stringent mass and power budget, thus enhancing the mission complexity and cost. We report a bright, stable entangled photon source with a relaxed requirement of crystal temperature and laser wavelength stabilization. Using a periodically poled KTP crystal inside a polarization Sagnac interferometer producing degenerate, type-0 phase-matched entangled photon pairs at 810 nm in an annular ring, we have transformed the SPDC ring into a "perfect" ring with the help of two common optical elements, axicon, and lens. Despite the variation of the SPDC ring size from Gaussian to annular of different diameters due to the change of crystal temperature over $7^{o}$C, and laser wavelength over 300 GHz, we observe the size of the "perfect" ring to be constant. The new EPS, having a spectral brightness as high as 22.58 $\pm$ 0.15 kHz/mW collected using single-mode fiber with a Bell's parameter, S = 2.64 $\pm$ 0.05, and quantum state fidelity of 0.95 $\pm$ 0.02, requires a crystal temperature stability of $\pm$ $0.8^{o}$C, almost five times relaxation as compared to the previous EPS. The generic scheme can be used for non-collinear SPDC photons in all crystals to develop EPS at any wavelength and timescales for resource-constrained applications.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2207.06117

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Entangled photon sources (EPS), the major building block for a variety of quantum communication protocols, are commonly developed by utilizing the spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) in χ2χ^{2}χ2 nonlinear bulk optical materials. While high nonlinearity and long interaction length have established the superiority of the periodically poled crystals for EPSs, the phase-matching condition of such crystals is very sensitive to the fluctuation of the crystal temperature and the laser wavelength. As a result, deploying such sources outside the laboratory, for example, satellite-based applications, demands a stringent mass and power budget, thus enhancing the mission complexity and cost. We report a bright, stable entangled photon source with a relaxed requirement of crystal temperature and laser wavelength stabilization. Using a periodically poled KTP crystal inside a polarization Sagnac interferometer producing degenerate, type-0 phase-matched entangled photon pairs at 810 nm in an annular ring, we have transformed the SPDC ring into a "perfect" ring with the help of two common optical elements, axicon, and lens. Despite the variation of the SPDC ring size from Gaussian to annular of different diameters due to the change of crystal temperature over 7o7^{o}7oC, and laser wavelength over 300 GHz, we observe the size of the "perfect" ring to be constant. The new EPS, having a spectral brightness as high as 22.58 ±\pm± 0.15 kHz/mW collected using single-mode fiber with a Bell's parameter, S = 2.64 ±\pm± 0.05, and quantum state fidelity of 0.95 ±\pm± 0.02, requires a crystal temperature stability of ±\pm± 0.8o0.8^{o}0.8oC, almost five times relaxation as compared to the previous EPS. The generic scheme can be used for non-collinear SPDC photons in all crystals to develop EPS at any wavelength and timescales for resource-constrained applications.
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We demonstrate a broadband entangled photon source based on a single-pass, type-0 phase-matched, non-collinear spontaneous parametric down-conversion (SPDC) process. By spatially multiplexing the intrinsically random transverse momentum states of biphotons emitted in an annular spatial distribution from a single-frequency-pumped, 2-mm-long periodically poled KTP crystal, we generate polarization-entangled pair photons with a spectral bandwidth of ∼130 nm centered at 810 nm. The negligible group-velocity mismatch of the co-polarized near-degenerate photons in single-pass and low birefringence of standard optical components preserves indistinguishability across the broadband emission without phase compensation, enabling high-quality polarization entanglement over the entire emission bandwidth. The source achieves a brightness of 0.57 Mpairs/s/mW and a two-photon coherence length of 6.97 μm, while exhibiting an interference visibility exceeding 95%, a Bell–CHSH parameter of 2.526 ± 0.005 that remains stable over 12 h of continuous operation and violates the Bell inequality by more than 100 standard deviations, and a state fidelity of 96.3%. The generic scheme providing the broadest bandwidth entangled biphotons at 810 nm, to our knowledge, can readily be used for other wavelengths as required for multiparty quantum networks and quantum sensing applications.
Entangled photon sources are essential for quantum information applications, including quantum computation, quantum communication, and quantum metrology. Periodically poled (PP) crystals are commonly used to generate bright photon sources through quasi-phase matching. However, fabricating uniform micron-scale periodic structures poses significant technical difficulties, typically limiting the crystal thickness to less than a millimeter. Here, we adopt non-critical phase matching to produce a robust and bright polarization-entangled photon source based on a bulk KTP crystal located in a Sagnac interferometer. This method is tolerant to variations in pump incidence angles and temperature, and theoretically offers about a 2.5-fold brightness enhancement compared to quasi-phase matching at a specific wavelength. Additionally, the absence of periodic poling allows for a larger crystal cross-section. Using a bulk KTP crystal without a PP structure, we experimentally produce the four Bell states with a brightness of 25.1 kHz/mW at a wavelength of 1079 nm, achieving purity, concurrence, and fidelity values close to 0.99. We believe our scheme will serve as a key building block for scalable and practical photonic quantum information applications.
Abstract Spontaneous parametric down‐conversion (SPDC), a primary resource of photonic quantum entangled states, strongly depends on the intrinsic phase matching condition. This makes it susceptible to changes in factors such as the pump wavelength, crystal temperature, and crystal axes orientation. Such intolerance to changing environmental factors prohibits deployment of SPDC‐based sources in non‐ideal environments outside controlled laboratories. Here, a novel system architecture based on a hybrid linear and non‐linear solution that is shown to make the source tolerance‐enhanced without sacrificing brightness. This linear solution is a lens‐axicon pair, judiciously placed, which is tested together with two common non‐linear crystals, quasi‐phase‐matched periodically‐poled KTiOPO 4 , and birefringent‐phase‐matched BiB 3 O 6 . This approach has the benefit of simultaneous tolerance to the environment and high brightness, which is demonstrated by using the proposed architecture as a stable entangled photon source and a spectral brightness as high as 22.58 ± 0.15 kHz mW −1 with a state fidelity of 0.95 , yet requiring a crystal temperature stability of only ±0.8 °C, a 5 × enhanced tolerance as compared to the conventional high brightness SPDC configurations is reported. This solution offers a new approach to deployable high‐brightness quantum sources that are robust to their environment, for instance, in satellite‐based quantum applications.