Improved heralded single-photon source with a photon-number-resolving superconducting nanowire detector

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an improved heralded single-photon source at telecommunication wavelengths using a photon-number-resolving superconducting nanowire detector, achieving reduced multiphoton emissions and increased single-pair generation efficiency.

Contribution

The authors develop an analytical model and experimental setup that significantly suppress multiphoton emissions and enhance single-photon generation using photon-number-resolving detection.

Findings

Reduced $g^{2}(0)$ correlation function by 0.118 at $ ext{μ} = 0.327$

Increased single pair generation probability by 25% at fixed $g^{2}(0)$

Achieved real-time heralding of single photons with low noise and high efficiency

Abstract

Deterministic generation of single photons is essential for many quantum information technologies. A bulk optical nonlinearity emitting a photon pair, where the measurement of one of the photons heralds the presence of the other, is commonly used with the caveat that the single-photon emission rate is constrained due to a trade-off between multiphoton events and pair emission rate. Using an efficient and low noise photon-number-resolving superconducting nanowire detector we herald, in real time, a single photon at telecommunication wavelength. We perform a second-order photon correlation $g^{2}(0)$ measurement of the signal mode conditioned on the measured photon number of the idler mode for various pump powers and demonstrate an improvement of a heralded single-photon source. We develop an analytical model using a phase-space formalism that encompasses all multiphoton effects and relevant imperfections, such as loss and multiple Schmidt modes. We perform a maximum-likelihood fit to test the agreement of the model to the data and extract the best-fit mean photon number $\mu$ of the pair source for each pump power. A maximum reduction of $0.118 \pm 0.012$ in the photon $g^{2}(0)$ correlation function at $\mu = 0.327 \pm 0.007$ is obtained, indicating a strong suppression of multiphoton emissions. For a fixed $g^{2}(0) = 7e-3$, we increase the single pair generation probability by 25%. Our experiment, built using fiber-coupled and off-the-shelf components, delineates a path to engineering ideal sources of single photons.