Quantum frequency conversion based on resonant four-wave mixing

Abstract

Quantum frequency conversion (QFC), a critical technology in photonic quantum information science, requires that the quantum characteristics of the frequency-converted photon must be the same as the input photon except for the color. In nonlinear optics, the wave mixing effect far away from the resonance condition is often used to realize QFC because it can prevent the vacuum field reservoir from destroying the quantum state of the converted photon effectively. Under conditions far away from resonance, experiments typically require strong pump light to generate large nonlinear interactions to achieve high-efficiency QFC. However, strong pump light often generates additional noise photons through spontaneous Raman or parametric conversion processes. Herein, we theoretically study another efficient QFC scheme based on a resonant four-wave mixing system. Due to the effect of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT), this resonant QFC scheme can greatly suppress vacuum field noise at low light levels; consequently, the converted photon can inherit the quantum state of the input photon with high fidelity. Our research demonstrates that if the conversion efficiency of the EIT-based QFC is close to 100%, the wave function and quadrature variance of the converted photon are almost the same as the input probe photon.