All-optical quantum signal demultiplexer

TL;DR

This paper introduces an all-optical quantum signal demultiplexer using sum frequency generation, enabling active switching of channels and efficient detection, demonstrated with entangled photons from a silicon chip.

Contribution

It presents a novel active demultiplexing method based on SFG that preserves entanglement and allows flexible channel selection in quantum communication.

Findings

Successful demultiplexing of multi-channel entangled photons

High interference visibility across channels

Preservation of quantum entanglement after demultiplexing

Abstract

Dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) is one of the most successful methods for enhancing data transmission rates in both classical and quantum communication networks. Although signal multiplexing and demultiplexing are equally important, traditional multiplexing and demultiplexing methods are based on passive devices such as arrayed waveguides and fiber Bragg cascade filters, which, although widely used in commercial devices, lack any active tuning ability. In this work, we propose a signal demultiplexing method based on sum frequency generation (SFG) with two significant features: first, any signal from the common communication channel can be demultiplexed to a single user by switching the pump wavelength; second, a cheap high-performance detector can be used for signal detection. These two features were demonstrated by demultiplexing multi-channel energy-time entanglement generated by a micro-cavity silicon chip. High interference visibilities over three channels after demultiplexing showed that entanglement was preserved and verified the high performance of the demultiplexer, which will find wide application in high-capacity quantum communication networks.