Abstract
Efficient preparation of large, but definite, numbers of photons is of great importance for scaling up and speeding up photonic quantum information processing. Typical single-photon generation techniques based on nonlinear parametric processes face challenges of probabilistic generation. Here we demonstrate efficient synchronization of photons from multiple nonlinear parametric heralded single-photon sources, using quantum memories. Our low-loss optical memories greatly enhance (∼30×) the generation rate of coincidence photons from two independent sources, while maintaining high indistinguishability (95.7±1.4%) of the synchronized photons. As an application, we perform the first demonstration of parametric-source-based measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution. The synchronization technique demonstrated here paves the way toward efficient quantum communication and larger-scale optical quantum computing.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1034-1037 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Optica |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 20 2017 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
Funding. National Science Foundation (NSF) (PHY 12-12439, PHY 15-20991); Army Research Office (ARO) (DURIP W911NF-12-1-0562, W911NF-13-1-0402); Office of Naval Research (ONR) (MURI N00014-13-1-0627).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| National Science Foundation | 1640968, PHY 15-20991, PHY 12-12439 |
| Office of Naval Research | MURI N00014-13-1-0627 |
| Army Research Office | W911NF-12-1-0562, W911NF-13-1-0402 |
Keywords
- Photon statistics
- Quantum communications
- Quantum information and processing
- Quantum optics