We examine the modal, spectral, and polarization entanglement properties of photon pairs generated in a nonlinear periodically poled two-mode waveguide (one-dimensional planar or two-dimensional circular) via nondegenerate spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Any of the possible degrees of freedom---mode number, frequency, or polarization---can be used to distinguish the down-converted photons while the others serve as attributes of entanglement. Distinguishing the down-converted photons based on their mode numbers enables us to efficiently generate spectral or polarization entanglement that is either narrowband or broadband. On the other hand, when the generated photons are distinguished by their frequencies in a type-0 process, modal entanglement turns out to be an efficient alternative to polarization entanglement. Moreover, modal entanglement in type-II down-conversion may be used to generate a doubly entangled state in frequency and polarization.
We describe the generation of entangled and hyperentangled photon pairs using a microstructure-fiber Sagnac interferometer, which is formed by a polarizing beam splitter and a highly nonlinear microstructure fiber twisted by 90° from end to end. This interferometer allows two identical four-wave mixing processes to occur on the same fiber principal axis, ensuring perfect spatial and temporal mode matching of the two four-wave mixing outputs on the polarizing beam splitter to create entanglement over the entire four-wave mixing phase-matching spectral range. With an average pump power of 220 μW, we measure a two-photon coincidence rate of 1 kHz with ▵λ = 0.9 nm. Two-photon interference visibilities exceed 91% for polarization-entangled photon pairs generated from this source, and are > 84% for both time-bin and polarization degrees of freedom for hyperentangled photons, all without subtracting accidental coincidences.
We propose and theoretically analyze a new scheme for generating hyperentangled photon pairs (EPPs) in a system of polaritons in coupled planar microcavities.Starting from a microscopic model, we evaluate the relevant parametric scattering processes and numerically simulate the phonon-induced noise background under continuous-wave excitation.Our results show that, compared to other polariton entanglement proposals, our scheme enables the generation of photon pairs that are entangled in both the path and polarization degrees of freedom, and simultaneously leads to a strong reduction in the photoluminescence noise background.This can significantly improve the fidelity of the EPPs under realistic experimental conditions.