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Quantum 2.0 Conference and Exhibition

Polarized single photons from a cavity-enhanced atom-light interface with coherent re-preparation

Jan Ole Ernst, Juan-Rafael Álvarez, Thomas D. Barrett, Axel Kuhn

Published Jan 1, 2022• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a scheme to generate single photons from 87Rb atoms. The com-bination of coherent STIRAP re-preparation and optical pumping allows for the efficient generation of streams of indistinguishable photons with promising use-cases.
DOI
10.1364/quantum.2022.qth4c.4

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Vacuum-stimulated Raman transitions are driven between two magnetic substates of a 87Rb atom strongly coupled to an optical cavity. A magnetic field lifts the degeneracy of these states, and the atom is alternately exposed to laser pulses of two different frequencies. This produces a stream of single photons with alternating circular polarization in a predetermined spatiotemporal mode. MHz repetition rates are possible as no recycling of the atom between photon generations is required. Photon indistinguishability is tested by time-resolved two-photon interference.
Abstract Photonic qubits play an instrumental role in the development of advanced quantum technologies, including quantum networking, boson sampling and measurement based quantum computing. A promising framework for the deterministic production of indistinguishable single photons is an atomic emitter coupled to a single mode of a high finesse optical cavity. Polarisation control is an important cornerstone, particularly when the polarisation defines the state of a quantum bit. Here, we propose a scheme for producing bursts of polarised single photons by coupling a generalised atomic emitter to an optical cavity, exploiting a particular choice of quantisation axis. In connection with two re-preparation methods, simulations predict ten-photon bursts coincidence count rates on the order of 1 kHz with single 87 R b atoms trapped in a state of the art optical cavity. This paves the way for novel n-photon experiments with atom-cavity sources.
For quantum computation the efficient preparation and connection of multiple qubits must be addressed. This includes linear optical quantum computation and quantum networks of stationary nodes interlinked by flying qubits. A quantum emitter coupled to a single mode of the electric field is a versatile tool, with the potential to provide the on-demand generation of single photons or a matter-light interface in a quantum network. This thesis presents the construction and characterisation of an \emph{a priori} deterministic single-photon source using single 87Rb atoms coupled to a high finesse optical cavity. These photons show a high degree of indistinguishability and long coherence times with a two-photon Hong-Ou-Mandel visibility of (70.8±4.6)% over the entire interaction time of 300ns long photons, further increasing to ≥97.8% by post-selecting only detection events within 23ns of each other. No degradation of performance is observed when interfering these pairs through a 4x4 multimode interferometer integrated onto a photonic chip with non-classical correlations measured between photon detections orders of magnitude further separated in time than the propagation time through the chip. The production scheme for polarised single photons is considered in detail. Cavity birefringence is found to alter the polarisation state of the emitted photons and a novel model to incorporate this effect is presented. Further deviations from a simple coupling model are observed in the modified hyperfine atomic structure in the intermediate strength magnetic fields required for polarised photon emission. The behaviour in this regime is modelled and shown to explain previously unresolved observations of the asymmetric production efficiencies of orthogonally polarised photons.