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Applied Physics Letters

Single-mode operation of a high-brightness narrow-band single-photon source

Matthias Scholz, Lars Koch, Roland Ullmann, Oliver J. Benson

Published May 18, 2009• 51 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We demonstrate a narrow-band single-photon source based on cavity-enhanced parametric downconversion for efficient coupling to atomic quantum memories. Selecting a single longitudinal cavity mode by spectral filtering, we achieve a spectral brightness of ∼330 biphotons/(s mW MHz) and an overall bandwidth of 2.7 MHz, which suits the width of naturally broadened transitions in alkali gases like rubidium or cesium.

DOI
10.1063/1.3139768

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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics•Jan 1, 2009•0 citations
We demonstrate a narrow-band single-photon source based on cavity-enhanced parametric downconversion for efficient coupling to atomic quantum memories. Selecting a single longitudinal cavity mode by spectral filtering, we achieve a spectral brightness of ∼330 biphotons/(s mW MHz) and an overall bandwidth of 2.7 MHz, which suits the width of naturally broadened transitions in alkali gases like rubidium or cesium.
Cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down-conversion is capable of efficient generation of single photons with suitable spectral properties for interfacing with the atoms. However, beside the remarkable progress of this technique, multimode longitudinal emission remains a major drawback. Here, we demonstrate a bright source of single photons that overcomes this limitation by a novel mode-selection technique based on the introduction of an additional birefringent element to the cavity. This enables us to tune the double resonance condition independent of the phase matching and thus to achieve single-mode operation without mode filters. Our source emits single-frequency-mode photons at 852 nm, which is compatible to the Cs D2 line, with a bandwidth of 10.9 MHz and a detected photon-pair rate of 2.5 kHz at 10 mW of pump power, while maintaining g(2)(0) = 0.13. The efficiency of our source is further underlined by detecting a four-photon rate of 0.28 Hz at 20 mW of pump power. These detected rates correspond to a photon-pair generation rate of 47.5 Hz, and a four-photon generation rate of 37 Hz. Such photon generation rates open up a variety of new applications reaching from hybrid light-matter interactions to optical quantum information tasks based on long temporal coherence.
Abstract We demonstrate an ultrabright, narrow-band and frequency-tunable photon-pair source based on cavity-enhanced spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) which is compatible with atomic transition of rubidium D 2 -line (780 nm) or cesium D 2 -line (852 nm). With the pump beam alternating between a high and a low power phase, the output is switching between the optical parametric oscillator (OPO) and photon-pair generation mode. We utilize the OPO output light to lock the cavity length to maintain the double resonances of signal and idler, as well as to lock the signal frequency to cesium atomic transition. With a type-II phase matching and a double-passed pump scheme such that the cluster frequency spacing is larger than the SPDC bandwidth, the photon-pair output is in a nearly single-mode operation as confirmed by a scanning Fabry–Perot interferometer with its output detected by a photomultiplier. The achieved generation and detection rates are 7.24 × 10 5 and 6142 s −1 mW −1 , respectively. The correlation time of the photon pair is 21.6(2.2) ns, corresponding to a bandwidth of 2 π × 6.6(6) MHz. The spectral brightness is 1.06 × 10 5 s −1 mW −1 MHz −1 . This is a relatively high value under a single-mode operation with the cavity-SPDC scheme. The generated single photons can be readily used in experiments related to atomic quantum memories.
Narrow-band single photons represent an important resource for quantum memories due to their efficient interaction with atomic resonances. In this paper, we report on the generation of photons with 3 MHz linewidth by cavity-enhanced parametric down-conversion and demonstrate direct proof of their single-photon character by detection of heralding idler photons. Compared to a Poissonian source, a suppression of higher-order photon numbers by nearly two orders of magnitude could be achieved. Moreover, the brightness of our source exceeds previous realizations by more than a factor of 100.
Atom-photon interaction promises to be a fundamental resource for applications like quantum computations. For an efficient interaction between light and atoms, the bandwidth of the light should match the natural linewidth of the atom transition to address, 6 MHz in the case of the Di line of rubidium. Cavity-enhanced down-conversion (CEDC) produces bright narrow-band quantum light with suitable linewidth but multimode in frequency. This requires the use of one or more filter cavities. This paper investigates a narrow-band filter which can be used for filtering the spectral mode of interest with a high extinction ratio for the other modes. Combined with a CEDC, this filter provides light for optimal interaction with rubidium atoms.
Using cavity-enhanced non-degenerate parametric down-conversion, we have built a frequency tunable source of heralded single photons with a narrow bandwidth of 8 MHz, making it compatible with atomic quantum memories. The photon state is 70% pure single photon as characterized by a tomographic measurement and reconstruction of the quantum state, revealing a clearly negative Wigner function. Furthermore, it has a spectral brightness of ~1,500 photons/s per MHz bandwidth, making it one of the brightest single photon sources available. We also investigate the correlation function of the down-converted fields using a combination of two very distinct detection methods; photon counting and homodyne measurement.