Abstract
We report on the realization of a tunable single-photon source compatible with quantum memories based on isotopically pure Y 7 LiF 4 crystals doped with Nd 3+ ions. The source is based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a PPLN crystal placed in a resonator. The latter is formed by two mirrors which are transparent for the pump (532 nm) and idler (1377 nm) fields but high reflective for the signal field (867 nm). The width of the second-order cross-correlation function between the signal and idler photons is determined to be 1.5 ns for the cavity length of 8 cm, which corresponds to a cavity bandwidth of 100 MHz.
Highlights
Single-photon sources are believed to be an important ingredient for long-distance quantum communication and other applications of quantum information science
The present work is devoted to developing a heralded single-photon source that is compatible with such a quantum memory device
For the parametric interaction in our optical parametric oscillator (OPO) resonator we use a 20 mm long PPLN crystal (Labfer) that supports quasi-phase matching for type-0 SPDC to convert photons at 532 nm
Summary
Single-photon sources are believed to be an important ingredient for long-distance quantum communication and other applications of quantum information science. For getting through the fibre losses and implementing long-distance quantum communication protocols, one can take advantage of quantum repeaters [1, 2], which in turn requires storage of nonclassical light states in a quantum memory device. Among different schemes of quantum memory (see, e.g., recent reviews [3, 4]), off-resonant solid-state Raman schemes might be useful.
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