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Optica Quantum

High-rate multiplexed entanglement source based on time-bin qubits for advanced quantum networks

Andrew Mueller, Samantha I. Davis, Boris A. Korzh, Raju Valivarthi, Andrew D. Beyer, Rahaf Youssef, Neil E. Sinclair, Cristián Peña, Matthew D. Shaw, M. Spiropulu

Published Jan 26, 2024• 30 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Entanglement distribution based on time-bin qubits is an attractive option for emerging quantum networks. We demonstrate a 4.09-GHz repetition rate source of photon pairs entangled across early and late time bins separated by 80 ps. Simultaneous high rates and high visibilities are achieved through frequency multiplexing the spontaneous parametric down conversion output into eight time-bin entangled channel pairs. We demonstrate entanglement visibilities as high as 99.4%, total entanglement rates up to 3.55×10 6 coincidences/s, and predict a straightforward path towards achieving up to an order of magnitude improvement in rates without compromising visibility. Finally, we resolve the density matrices of the entangled states for each multiplexed channel and express distillable entanglement rates in ebit/s, thereby quantifying the trade-off between visibility and coincidence rates that contributes to useful entanglement distribution. This source is a fundamental building block for high-rate entanglement-based quantum key distribution systems or advanced quantum networks.

DOI
10.1364/opticaq.509335

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Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE•Nov 3, 2016•6 citations
Entanglement distribution based on time-bin qubits is an attractive option for emerging quantum networks. We demonstrate a 4.09-GHz repetition rate source of photon pairs entangled across early and late time bins separated by 80 ps. Simultaneous high rates and high visibilities are achieved through frequency multiplexing the spontaneous parametric down conversion output into eight time-bin entangled channel pairs. We demonstrate entanglement visibilities as high as 99.4%, total entanglement rates up to 3.55×10 6 coincidences/s, and predict a straightforward path towards achieving up to an order of magnitude improvement in rates without compromising visibility. Finally, we resolve the density matrices of the entangled states for each multiplexed channel and express distillable entanglement rates in ebit/s, thereby quantifying the trade-off between visibility and coincidence rates that contributes to useful entanglement distribution. This source is a fundamental building block for high-rate entanglement-based quantum key distribution systems or advanced quantum networks.
Entanglement distribution based on time-bin qubits is an attractive option for emerging quantum networks. We demonstrate a 4.09 GHz repetition rate source of photon pairs entangled across early and late time bins separated by 80 ps. Simultaneous high rates and high visibilities are achieved through frequency multiplexing the spontaneous parametric down conversion output into 8 time-bin entangled pairs. We demonstrate entanglement visibilities as high as 99.4%, total entanglement rates up to 3.55e6 coincidences/s, and predict a straightforward path towards achieving up to an order of magnitude improvement in rates without compromising visibility. Finally, we resolve the density matrices of the entangled states for each multiplexed channel and express distillable entanglement rates in ebit/s, thereby quantifying the tradeoff between visibility and coincidence rates that contributes to useful entanglement distribution. This source is a fundamental building block for high-rate entanglement-based quantum key distribution systems or advanced quantum networks.
Time-bin entangled states are a promising paradigm for quantum communication between nodes of a quantum network. In addition, high-dimensional time-bin states are easy to generate and could offer significantly improved transmission fidelity compared to standard qubits. However, the overall rate of these transmissions is necessarily diminished because successive higher-dimensional time-bin states must be delayed such that they do not overlap in time. We propose to alleviate this concern by introducing an optical frequency shift on each time bin, taking advantage of quantum wavelength division multiplexing to greatly increase the rate of communication possible within a quantum channel. Here we report frequency shifts over a range of ∼ 2 nm (∼ 240 GHz) of telecom pulses in two time-bins separated by ∼ 250 ps, consistent with the requirements for multiplexing.
Integrated time-bin-entangled photon-pair source with cavity-enhanced nonlinear optical processes is essential for quantum information technologies. However, microcavities with a high quality factor inherently introduce a trade-off between generation efficiency and photon bandwidth, which hinders the development of high-speed quantum networks with an integrated source. Here, we address this challenge by optimizing the nonlinearity property of the material and the geometry of the integrated microring resonator with a 4H-silicon carbide platform. Operating at a loaded quality factor of 1.9 ×\times× 10^5 - spectral bandwidth of 1.0 GHz and pumped with 300-ps double pulses separated by 1.25 ns at a repetition rate of 160 MHz, the device achieves a time-bin-entangled photon-pair generation rate of 1.35 ×\times× 10^7 s^-1 mW^-2. A raw visibility of 95.55 ±\pm± 0.18% is measured, showing a violation of Bell's inequality by more than 138 standard deviations, and a fidelity of 94.37 ±\pm± 0.22% is obtained by quantum state tomography. These results provide a scalable pathway to an efficient and broadband time-bin entangled quantum light source, overcoming intrinsic limitations of cavity-based designs and advancing integrated platforms for future quantum communication networks.
In a quantum network involving multiple communicating parties, an important goal is to establish high-quality pairwise entanglement among the users without introducing multiple entangled-photon sources which would necessarily complicate the overall network setup. Moreover, it is preferable that the pairwise entanglement of photons is in the time-bin degree of freedom as the photonic time-bin qubit is ideally suited for fiber-optic distribution. Here, we report an experimental demonstration of a field-deployable quantum communication network involving multiple users, all of whom share pairwise entanglement in the time-bin degree of freedom of photons. In particular, by utilizing a single spontaneous-parametric down-conversion source which produces a broadband pair of photons and the wavelength-division demultiplexing/multiplexing technology, all the communicating parties within the network are always simultaneously ready for quantum communication. To further demonstrate the practical feasibility of a quantum network with time-bin entanglement over a wavelength-multiplexed fiber network, we demonstrate entangled-photon quantum key distribution with three users, each separated by 60 km of optical fibers.
Quantum networks based on wavelength-multiplexed entanglement enable parallel distribution of quantum correlations, increasing channel capacity for secure communication and distributed quantum information processing. However, broadband integrated sources capable of generating multipartite entanglement beyond photon pairs remain scarce. Here we report on-chip generation of telecom-band four-photon entanglement in a periodically poled thin-film lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) waveguide. Type-0 spontaneous parametric down-conversion provides a phase-matching bandwidth exceeding 200 nm, enabling spectrally separable generation of multi-photon entanglement across the telecom band. The generated photons are encoded in time bins for robust fiber compatibility, and a coherent interface enabling reversible conversion between time-bin and polarization degrees of freedom allows complete quantum state tomography. We measure two-photon entanglement with a brightness of 6.7 MHz/mW/nm and a fidelity of 0.874±0.0020.874 \pm 0.0020.874±0.002. At a pump power of 0.08 mW, the four-photon state exhibits a fourfold coincidence rate of 1 Hz and a fidelity of 0.74±0.010.74 \pm 0.010.74±0.01, representing a threefold improvement over previous integrated platforms. Our results establish LNOI as a scalable platform for broadband multi-photon entanglement and provide a practical route toward dense wavelength-multiplexed quantum networks.
The ultimate goal of quantum information science is to build a global quantum network, which enables quantum resources to be distributed and shared between remote parties. Such a quantum network can be realized using only fiber elements, thus deriving the advantages of low transmission loss, low cost, scalability, and integrability through mature fiber communication techniques such as dense wavelength division multiplexing. Hence high-quality entangled-photon sources based on fibers are in high demand. Here we report multiplexed polarization- and time-bin-entangled photon-pair sources based on the dispersion-shifted fiber operating at room temperature. The associated high quality of entanglement is characterized using interference, Bell’s inequality, and quantum state tomography. The simultaneous presence of both types of entanglement in multi-channel pairs of a 100-GHz dense wavelength division multiplexing device indicates a great capacity in distributing entangled photons over multiple users. Our design provides a versatile platform and takes a big step toward constructing an all-fiber quantum network.