High-performance single-photon generation with commercial-grade optical fiber

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a high-performance heralded single-photon source using commercial-grade optical fiber, achieving high purity and heralding efficiency, with tunable wavelength for scalable quantum networks.

Contribution

It introduces a practical single-photon source based on commercial fiber with record heralding efficiency and tunability, advancing scalable quantum communication.

Findings

Heralded photons have purity ≥0.84.

Heralding efficiency into single-mode fiber is 85%.

Wavelength tuning is mechanically controllable.

Abstract

High-quality quantum sources are of paramount importance for the implementation of quantum technologies. We present here a heralded single-photon source based on commercial-grade polarization-maintaining optical fiber. The heralded photons exhibit a purity of at least 0.84 and an unprecedented heralding efficiency into single-mode fiber of 85%. The birefringent phase-matching condition of the underlying four-wave mixing process can be controlled mechanically to optimize the wavelength tuning needed for interfacing multiple sources, as are required for large-scale entanglement generation.