Today, photonic quantum technology is held back by photon source efficiency. Here, we multiplex 11 temporally distinct silicon waveguide photon sources, enhancing the single-photon probability by a factor of 4.5 ± 0.5.
Abstract Efficient generation of single photons is one of the key challenges of building photonic quantum technology, such as quantum computers and long-distance quantum networks. Photon source multiplexing—where successful pair generation is heralded by the detection of one of the photons, and its partner is routed to a single mode output—has long been known to offer a concrete solution, with output probability tending toward unity as loss is reduced. Here, we present a temporally multiplexed integrated single photon source based on a silicon waveguide and a low-loss fibre switch and loop architecture, which achieves enhancement of the single photon output probability of 4.5 ± 0.5, while retaining g (2)(0) = 0.01.