Entangled photon pair generation via spontaneous intermodal four-wave mixing in a 25km few-mode fiber

Abstract

High degrees of security have been achieved in quantum communication over fiber using entangled photons. For communications applications, it is crucial to produce high-yield entangled photon pairs (EPPs) with the capacity to transmit them over telecommunication-length fiber distances and the ability to integrate and transmit them over existing classical communication systems. Since spatial division multiplexing (SDM) is currently being demonstrated to replace single-mode communication systems, it only makes sense to demonstrate the generation and transferring EPPs in various fiber modes suitable for generation and transmission in SDM fibers. We experimentally demonstrate EPP formation in a 25-km-long graded-index few-mode fiber (three modes) via the intermodal spontaneous four-wave mixing (SFWM) effect. Mode profile and phase matching condition have been confirmed through experiments.