Near-perfect two-photon interference at a telecom wavelength using picosecond regime separated sources

Pierre Aboussouan (1) , Olivier Alibart (1) , Daniel Barry Ostrowsky (1) , Pascal Baldi (1) , Sébastien Tanzilli (1)

1 LPMC - Laboratoire de physique de la matière condensée

We report on a two-photon interference experiment in a quantum relay configuration using two picosecond regime periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide based sources emitting paired photons at 1550 nm. The results show that the picosecond regime associated with a guided-wave scheme should have important repercussions for quantum relay implementations in real conditions, essential for improving both the working distance and the efficiency of quantum cryptography and networking systems. In contrast to already reported regimes, namely, femtosecond and CW, it allows achieving a 99% net visibility two-photon interference while maintaining a high effective photon pair rate using only standard telecom components and detectors.

Domaines: Optique [physics.optics]

Pierre Aboussouan, Olivier Alibart, Daniel Barry Ostrowsky, Pascal Baldi, Sébastien Tanzilli. Near-perfect two-photon interference at a telecom wavelength using picosecond regime separated sources. Physical Review A : Atomic, molecular, and optical physics [1990-2015], 2009, 81 (2), pp.021801. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevA.81.021801⟩. ⟨hal-01311116⟩