Temporal shaping of single photons enabled by entanglement

Averchenko V, Sych D, Schunk G, Vogl U, Marquardt C, Leuchs G (2017)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2017

Journal

Physical Review A American Physical Society

Book Volume: 96

Article Number: 043822

Journal Issue: 4

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.96.043822

Abstract

We present a method to produce pure single photons with an arbitrary designed temporal shape in a heralded way. As an indispensable resource, the method uses pairs of time-energy entangled photons. One photon of a pair undergoes temporal amplitude-phase modulation according to the desired shape. Subsequent frequency-resolved detection of the modulated photon heralds its entangled counterpart in a pure quantum state. The temporal shape of the heralded photon is indirectly affected by the modulation in the heralding arm. We derive conditions for which the shape of the heralded photon is given by the modulation function. The method can be implemented with various sources of time-energy entangled photons. In particular, using entangled photons from parametric down-conversion the method provides a simple means to generate pure shaped photons with an unprecedented broad range of temporal durations, from tenths of femtoseconds to microseconds. This shaping of single photons will push forward the implementation of scalable multidimensional quantum information protocols, efficient photon-matter coupling, and quantum control at the level of single quanta.

Authors with CRIS profile

Christoph Marquardt Institut für Optik, Information und Photonik Gerhard Leuchs Lehrstuhl für Experimentalphysik (Optik)

Involved external institutions

Max-Planck-Institut für die Physik des Lichts (MPL) / Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light DE Germany (DE) Russian Academy of Sciences / Росси́йская акаде́мия нау́к (RAS) RU Russian Federation (RU)

How to cite

APA:

Averchenko, V., Sych, D., Schunk, G., Vogl, U., Marquardt, C., & Leuchs, G. (2017). Temporal shaping of single photons enabled by entanglement. Physical Review A, 96(4). https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.96.043822

MLA:

Averchenko, Valentin, et al. "Temporal shaping of single photons enabled by entanglement." Physical Review A 96.4 (2017).

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