Narrowband polarization entangled paired photons with controllable temporal length

Abstract

Quantum networks strongly depend on the efficient interactions between flying photonic quantum bits and local long-lived atomic matter nodes. To achieve the efficient quantum interfaces between polarization-encoding photons and spin-encoding atoms, polarization-entangled paired photons with a bandwidth narrower than the natural linewidth of the atoms are highly required. In this paper, we review the generation of subnatural-linewidth polarization-entangled paired photons through spontaneous four-wave mixing with cold atoms, which is very suitable for the application of quantum networks.