Shaping single photons and biphotons by inherent losses

TL;DR

This paper explores how inherent losses in parametric down-conversion can be harnessed to manipulate and tailor the wave packets of single photons and biphotons, enabling new quantum information applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach to use inherent loss for shaping photon wave packets, including a scheme for generating single photons in a single cycle.

Findings

Inherent loss can be used to tailor photon wave packets.

Proposed scheme for single-photon generation in a single cycle.

Potential applications in quantum communication and computation.

Abstract

Inherent loss is always to be avoided in generating single photons or biphotons, but interestingly it provides opportunities for manipulating the photon wave packet. In this paper we show how inherent loss in parametric down-conversion can be employed to tailor the wave packets of single photons and biphotons. As an example, we propose a scheme to realize a single photon in a single cycle using inherent loss. Our work has potential applications in quantum communication, quantum computation, and quantum interface.