Highly efficient frequency conversion with bandwidth compression of quantum light

TL;DR

This paper presents a highly efficient sum-frequency conversion process in Lithium Niobate that simultaneously compresses bandwidth and translates photon frequency, enabling better interfacing of diverse quantum systems for quantum networks.

Contribution

The authors demonstrate a novel sum-frequency conversion method that achieves both high efficiency and bandwidth compression, bridging incompatible quantum systems.

Findings

Bandwidth compression factor of 7.47 achieved.

Internal conversion efficiency of 75.5%.

Preservation of non-classical photon statistics.

Abstract

Hybrid quantum networks rely on efficient interfacing of dissimilar quantum nodes, since elements based on parametric down-conversion sources, quantum dots, color centres or atoms are fundamentally different in their frequencies and bandwidths. While pulse manipulation has been demonstrated in very different systems, to date no interface exists that provides both an efficient bandwidth compression and a substantial frequency translation at the same time. Here, we demonstrate an engineered sum-frequency-conversion process in Lithium Niobate that achieves both goals. We convert pure photons at telecom wavelengths to the visible range while compressing the bandwidth by a factor of 7.47 under preservation of non-classical photon-number statistics. We achieve internal conversion efficiencies of 75.5%, significantly outperforming spectral filtering for bandwidth compression. Our system thus makes the connection between previously incompatible quantum systems as a step towards usable quantum networks.