Abstract
Quantum frequency conversion (QFC) of photonic signals preserves quantum information while simultaneously changing the signal wavelength. A common application of QFC is to translate the wavelength of a signal compatible with the current fiber-optic infrastructure to a shorter wavelength more compatible with high-quality single-photon detectors and optical memories. Recent work has investigated the use of QFC to manipulate and measure specific temporal modes (TMs) through tailoring the pump pulses. Such a scheme holds promise for multidimensional quantum state manipulation that is both low loss and re-programmable on a fast time scale. We demonstrate the first QFC temporal mode sorting system in a four-dimensional Hilbert space, achieving a conversion efficiency and mode separability as high as 92% and 0.84, respectively. A 20-GHz pulse train is projected onto 6 different TMs, including superposition states, and mode separability with weak coherent signals is verified via photon counting. Such ultrafast high-dimensional photonic signals could enable long-distance quantum communication at high rates.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1300-1307 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Optica |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 12 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 20 2016 |
Keywords
- Nonlinear optics, parametric processes
- Pulse shaping
- Quantum communications
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
- Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics