Generation and characterization of multimode quantum frequency combs

Olivier Pinel (1) , Pu Jian (1) , Renné Medeiros de Araujo (1) , Jingxia Feng (1, 2) , Benoît Chalopin (1, 3) , Claude Fabre (1) , Nicolas Treps (1)

1 LKB (Jussieu) - Laboratoire Kastler Brossel
2 State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics devices
3 Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light

Multimode nonclassical states of light are an essential resource in quantum computation with continuous variables, for example in cluster state computation. They can be generated either by mixing different squeezed light sources using linear optical operations, or directly in a multimode optical device. In parallel, frequency combs are perfect tools for high precision metrological applications and for quantum time transfer. Synchronously Pumped Optical Parametric Oscillators (SPOPOs) have been theoretically shown to produce multimode non-classical frequency combs. In this paper, we present the first experimental generation and characterization of a femtosecond quantum frequency comb generated by a SPOPO. In particular, we give the experimental evidence of the multimode nature of the generated quantum state and, by studying the spectral noise distribution of this state, we show that at least three nonclassical independent modes are required to describe it.

Domaines: Physique Générale [physics.gen-ph]; Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

Olivier Pinel, Pu Jian, Renné Medeiros de Araujo, Jingxia Feng, Benoît Chalopin, et al.. Generation and characterization of multimode quantum frequency combs. 2011. ⟨hal-00580590v2⟩