Heralded generation of high-purity ultrashort single photons in programmable temporal shapes

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a method to generate high-purity, ultrashort single photons with customizable temporal shapes using a tailored waveguide and shaped pump pulses, achieving a minimum purity of 0.81.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach for producing heralded single photons in arbitrary temporal modes with high purity at telecom wavelengths.

Findings

Achieved a minimum purity of 0.81 for complex temporal shapes.

Successfully generated PDC photons in Hermite-Gauss and frequency-binned modes.

Demonstrated on-demand generation of single photons with tailored temporal profiles.

Abstract

We experimentally demonstrate a source of nearly pure single photons in arbitrary temporal shapes heralded from a parametric down-conversion (PDC) source at telecom wavelengths. The technology is enabled by the tailored dispersion of in-house fabricated waveguides with shaped pump pulses to directly generate the PDC photons in on-demand temporal shapes. We generate PDC photons in Hermite-Gauss and frequency-binned modes and confirm a minimum purity of 0.81, even for complex temporal shapes.