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Journal of Modern Optics

Novel narrow-band spectral interference filter with very high transmittance

Jan Bogdanski, Ariel Danan, Scott M. Jobling, Kevin T. McCusker, Stefan B. Quint, Alex Z. Smith, Jordan P. Smith, Paul G. Kwiat

Published Jan 8, 2011• 3 citations

Abstract

We report a novel scheme to improve the effective transmission of a standard interference filter, and demonstrate over 97% passband transmission. Such high efficiency is critical for quantum information applications, e.g. high-efficiency single-photon generation utilizing parametric down-conversion. The scheme can also be modified to function with a tilted filter, thereby allowing tuning of the passband frequency. In addition, the tilted configuration creates an infinite number of consecutive reflections from and transmissions through the filter, further improving the net filter transmission. Because spectral interference filters are a key element in optical quantum information experiments (both on the source and detection side, e.g. to exclude background photons as well as to determine the spectra of the desired photons), our scheme of enhanced interference filter transmission should lead to significant performance improvements in such experiments.

DOI: 10.1080/09500340.2010.543476

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We report a novel scheme to improve the effective transmission of a standard interference filter, and demonstrate over 97% passband transmission. Such high efficiency is critical for quantum information applications, e.g. high-efficiency single-photon generation utilizing parametric down-conversion. The scheme can also be modified to function with a tilted filter, thereby allowing tuning of the passband frequency. In addition, the tilted configuration creates an infinite number of consecutive reflections from and transmissions through the filter, further improving the net filter transmission. Because spectral interference filters are a key element in optical quantum information experiments (both on the source and detection side, e.g. to exclude background photons as well as to determine the spectra of the desired photons), our scheme of enhanced interference filter transmission should lead to significant performance improvements in such experiments.

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Parametric down-conversion (PDC) offers the possibility to control the fabrication of non-Gaussian states such as Fock states. However, in conventional PDC sources energy and momentum conservation introduce strict frequency and photon number correlations, which impact the fidelity of the prepared state. In our work we optimize the preparation of single-photon Fock states from the emission of waveguided PDC via spectral filtering. We study the effect of correlations via photon number resolving detection and quantum interference. Our measurements show how the reduction of mixedness due to filtering can be evaluated. Interfering the prepared photon with a coherent state we establish an experimentally measured fidelity of the produced target state of 78%. (C) 2009 Optical Society of America

The ideal photon-pair source for building up multi-qubit states needs to produce indistinguishable photons with high efficiency. Indistinguishability is crucial for minimising errors in two-photon interference, central to building larger states, while high heralding rates will be needed to overcome unfavourable loss scaling. Domain engineering in parametric down-conversion sources negates the need for lossy spectral filtering allowing one to satisfy these conditions inherently within the source design. Here, we present a telecom-wavelength parametric down-conversion photon source that operates on the achievable limit of domain engineering. We generate photons from independent sources which achieve two-photon interference visibilities of up to

98.6\pm1.1\%

without narrow-band filtering. As a consequence, we reach net heralding efficiencies of up to

67.5\%

, which corresponds to collection efficiencies exceeding

90\%

.

The ideal photon-pair source for building up multi-qubit states needs to produce indistinguishable photons with high efficiency. Indistinguishability is crucial for minimising errors in two-photon interference, central to building larger states, while high heralding rates will be needed to overcome unfavourable loss scaling. Domain engineering in parametric down-conversion sources negates the need for lossy spectral filtering allowing one to satisfy these conditions inherently within the source design. Here, we present a telecom-wavelength parametric down-conversion photon source that operates on the achievable limit of domain engineering. We generate photons from independent sources which achieve two-photon interference visibilities of up to 98.6 ± 1.1% without narrow-band filtering. As a consequence, we reach net heralding efficiencies of up to 67.5%, which corresponds to collection efficiencies exceeding 90%.