Interconnecting heterogeneous quantum systems is an important step toward realizing the quantum internet. We propose a quantum network hub that interfaces local quantum devices with dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) networks in the telecom band via quantum frequency conversion (QFC) with frequency-channel selectivity. We show that standard periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides used for QFC exhibit a dispersion sweet spot, for example around the 780 nm band, enabling wide tunability of the pump wavelength while maintaining phase matching. Experimentally, we demonstrate the network hub by implementing a channel-selective and polarization-insensitive QFC from 780 nm to telecom wavelengths around 1540 nm. We achieve a pump tuning range of 2 THz and successfully distribute polarization-encoded single photons into 16 frequency channels on the ITU-T DWDM grid with 25 GHz channel spacing, while preserving the quantum information. These results position the QFC-based hub as a versatile backbone for connecting a wide range of quantum devices, spanning both photonic and matter-based systems, across frequency-multiplexed telecom networks.
Interconnecting heterogeneous quantum systems is an important step toward realizing the quantum internet. We propose a quantum network hub that interfaces local quantum devices with dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) networks in the telecom band via quantum frequency conversion (QFC) with frequency-channel selectivity. We show that standard periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides used for QFC exhibit a dispersion sweet spot, for example around the 780 nm band, enabling wide tunability of the pump wavelength while maintaining phase matching. Experimentally, we demonstrate the network hub by implementing a channel-selective and polarization-insensitive QFC from 780 nm to telecom wavelengths around 1540 nm. We achieve a pump tuning range of 2 THz and successfully distribute polarization-encoded single photons into 16 frequency channels on the ITU-T DWDM grid with 25 GHz channel spacing, while preserving the quantum information. These results position the QFC-based hub as a versatile backbone for connecting a wide range of quantum devices, spanning both photonic and matter-based systems, across frequency-multiplexed telecom networks.
Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is a key technology for realizing high-capacity and flexible quantum communication networks. To enable the emerging quantum internet, quantum frequency conversion is also essential for bridging different quantum systems over optical fiber networks. In this work, aiming at a frequency-multiplexed quantum internet, we present a channel-selective quantum frequency conversion (CS-QFC) based on difference frequency generation in a PPLN waveguide, which has been widely used in conventional QFC experiments. The CS-QFC converts a frequency of a photon at a single frequency to any frequency in the DWDM channels by dynamically selecting one of the pump lights. In the experiment, we demonstrated the CS-QFC from 780 nm to around 1540 nm employing one of the pump lights around 1580 nm detuned with a spacing of 25 GHz. From the experiment using the laser light, we showed that the output-frequency tunability of our CS-QFC reaches 2.5 THz, which corresponds to the ability to establish a 100-ch DWDM dynamic link from a single quantum system. Using photon pairs, we performed an experiment in which photons were routed into seven of the DWDM channels. As a result, photons were converted to the channels corresponding to the pump frequencies, while keeping the nonclassical cross-correlation functions, and no crosstalk to the other channels was observed.
Signal photons emitted by quantum nodes typically fall outside the low-loss telecom window of optical fibers, leading to severe transmission losses. Quantum frequency conversion (QFC) offers an effective optical interface that bridges quantum nodes with telecom-band channels, enabling long-distance quantum communication. In this work, we demonstrate a compact, fiber-integrated QFC system with low noise and a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Using a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide, input photons at 637.2 nm are down-converted to telecom photons at 1588.3 nm. Our system achieves a total conversion efficiency of approximately 9%, with pump-induced noise suppressed to 154 Hz. For input photon rates of 32.7, 118.0, and 327.7 kHz, the corresponding SNRs are 12.3, 43.9, and 117.8, respectively. We further develop a theoretical model to simulate the entanglement fidelity between nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center spins and the frequency-converted telecom photons. At the emission rate of an NV center, our QFC system maintains an expected fidelity exceeding 52% over a transmission distance of 100 km. These findings highlight the potential of our QFC system for scalable, long-distance quantum networking.
We study multiplexed quantum frequency conversion (m-QFC) on a single waveguide, where a single pump beam simultaneously converts multiple signal beams at distinct wavelengths. Using a three-peak periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide, we demonstrate the multiplexed upconversion in the telecom band with internal efficiencies up to 73.6%. Tested with a multichannel photon-pair source, the quantum correlation is preserved well after the conversion, with coincidence-to-accidental ratio reaching 767. These results highlight a viable device approach to multiplexed quantum key distribution, quantum sensing, and quantum computing.
Quantum frequency conversion (QFC) is essential for bridging the spectral gap between stationary qubits and low-loss optical communication channels. Practicable QFC interfaces connecting ultraviolet and telecommunication bands are of great significance but have remained elusive, constrained by the dual challenges of a high-performance frequency converter and effective noise suppression in short-wavelength pumping configurations. We address this by demonstrating the phase-matching mechanism with domain defects and differential-tuning behavior of the spontaneous parametric down-conversion noises. Based on a quantitative analysis of performance degradation induced by domain defects, we propose specific fabrication guidelines and experimentally achieve an ultrahigh normalized conversion efficiency of 839%/(W cm^{2}) for the fundamental guided mode in thin-film lithium niobate waveguides. Meanwhile, we reveal a new noise control mechanism for short-wavelength pumping by utilizing the differential-tuning behaviors of difference-frequency generation and spontaneous parametric down-conversion processes. Then a single-stage QFC from 393 nm to the telecom C band with a record-high external efficiency of 28.8% and an ultralow noise level of 35 counts per second is achieved experimentally. The proposed mechanisms would enable other QFCs with higher efficiency and lower noise, advancing the development of scalable quantum networks. Furthermore, it holds significant potential for driving progress in both classical and integrated nonlinear photonics.
We demonstrate channel-selective frequency up-conversion from telecom wavelengths around 1540 nm for optical fiber communication to visible wavelengths around 780 nm, based on second-order optical nonlinearity in a cavity of the converted modes. In our experiment, we selectively convert a light from any frequency mode within frequency-multiplexed telecom signals to a desired output mode, determined by the cavity resonances. Based on the experimental results of the frequency up-conversion, we derive the signal-to-noise ratio of the process at the single-photon level, and discuss its applicability to channel-selective quantum frequency conversion (CS-QFC) in the context of frequency-multiplexed quantum networks. Finally, we describe specific use cases of the CS-QFC, which show its utility as a reconfigurable switching element in frequency-multiplexed networks, particularly for selectively performing Bell-state measurements between two photons originating from different frequencies.
For quantum information processing (QIP), it is important to have a long-lived quantum memory (QM), coupled to other QMs and quantum processors (QP). However, QM and QP systems demonstrated so far suffer from many limitations, and in the near future a single platform will not have the optimal version of all the components needed for QIP. Thus, it is also important to be able to couple quantum bits in different systems, for example, Rb atoms and NV diamond, preferably using telecom fibres. In this paper, we describe a quantum frequency converter (QFC) that will perform this telecom band qubit conversion. The QFC is based on periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides. For concreteness, we consider specific examples: the conversion of a 780 nm or 795 nm Rb qubit to the telecom band and the conversion of a 637 nm photonic NV diamond qubit to the telecom band, as well as the inverse processes. We show that interface fidelity exceeding 95% should be feasible. Given the storage times ∼1 s already demonstrated in the solid-state systems, and the recent demonstrations of spin-photon entanglement with the NV and entanglement of the NV spin with a superconducting flux qubit operating in the microwave region near 2.88 GHz, such a link would provide the key interface needed to build a quantum internet.