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arXiv:2405.20570 · Optics Express

Generation of subnatural-linewidth orbital angular momentum entangled biphotons using a single driving laser in hot atoms

Jiaheng Ma, Chengyuan Wang, Bingbing Li, Yun Chen, Ye Yang, Jinwen Wang, Xin Yang, Shuwei Qiu, Hong Zhi Gao, Fuli Li

Published May 30, 2024• 7 citations

Abstract

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) entangled photon pairs with narrow bandwidths play a crucial role in the interaction of light and quantum states of matter. In this article, we demonstrate an approach for generating OAM entangled photon pairs with a narrow bandwidth by using a single driving beam in a 85 Rb atomic vapor cell. This single driving beam is able to simultaneously couple two atomic transitions and directly generate OAM entangled biphotons by leveraging the OAM conservation law through the spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) process. The photon pairs exhibit a maximum cross-correlation function value of 27.7 and a linewidth of 4 MHz. The OAM entanglement is confirmed through quantum state tomography, revealing a fidelity of 95.7% and a concurrence of 0.926 when compared to the maximally entangled state. Our scheme is notably simpler than previously proposed schemes and represents the first demonstration of generating subnatural-linewidth entangled photon pairs in hot atomic systems.

DOI: 10.1364/oe.527497

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A source of hyper-entangled photons plays a vital role in quantum information processing, owing to its high information capacity. In this Letter, we demonstrate a convenient method to generate polarization and orbital angular momentum (OAM) hyper-entangled photon pairs via spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) in a hot 87 R b atomic vapor. The polarization entanglement is achieved by coherently combining two SFWM paths with the aid of two beam displacers that constitute a phase self-stabilized interferometer, and OAM entanglement is realized by taking advantage of the OAM conservation condition during the SFWM process. Our hyper-entangled biphoton source possesses high brightness and high nonclassicality and may have broad applications in atom–photon-interaction-based quantum networks.

We report the generation of narrowband entangled photon pairs (biphotons) from a hot atomic vapor cell. Making use of backward spontaneous four-wave mixing with electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), we produced subnatural-linewidth (1.9 MHz < 6 MHz) biphotons from a Doppler-broadened (0.5 GHz) hot (63 C) paraffin-coated rubidium 87 vapor cell. The biphoton coherence time is controable and can be tuned up to 100 ns by EIT. The uncorrelated photons from resonance Raman scattering are suppressed by a spatially separated and tailored optical pumping beam. The spectral brightness is as high as 14,000 s−1MHz−1. As compared with the cold-atom experiment , the hot atomic vapour cell configuration is much simpler for operation and maintenance, and it is a continuous biphoton source. Our demonstration may lead to miniature narrowband biphoton sources based on atomic vapour cells for practical quantum applications and engineering.

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.

In this paper, we experimentally demonstrate that the photon pairs generated via spontaneous four-wave mixing in a hot atomic ensemble are in entangled orbital angular momentum (OAM) states. The density matrix of the OAM states of the photon pair is reconstructed, from which the fidelity to the maximal entangled state and the concurrence are estimated to be about 0.89 and 0.81, respectively. The experimental result also suggests the existence of the entanglement concerned with spatial degrees of freedom between the hot atomic ensemble and the Stokes photon.

Summary form only given. Entangled photon pair is key factor for realization of quantum communication, quantum information, etc. For long distance quantum communication, it is necessary to generate narrow band biphoton for interaction with atomic based quantum memory. In recent years, generation of time-frequency entangled photon pairs based on spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) process in atomic ensemble have been reported [1-3]. Very recently, S. Chu et al. achieved generation of strongly correlated subnatural-linewidth biphoton from Doppler-broaden hot atomic ensemble [4]. The group used paraffin-coated87Rb vapour cell and separated optical pumping effect for reduce noise of fluorescence from resonant coupling field. In this paper, we performed experiment for subnatural-linewidth biphoton generation from hot atomic ensembles by using a hollow optical pumping field and regular vapour cell, which are not special coated cell.