Rostock 2019 – scientific programme

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A: Fachverband Atomphysik

A 35: Precision Spectroscopy of atoms and ions

A 35.6: Poster

Thursday, March 14, 2019, 16:15–18:15, S Fobau Physik

Scheme to generate and filter photon pairs from atoms in a hollow-core fibre — •Mark Zentile, Ioannis Caltzidis, Harald Kübler, Robert Löw, and Tilman Pfau — 5. Physikalisches Institut and Center for Integrated Quantum Science and Technology IQST, Universität Stuttgart

Single photon sources are essential for quantum optics. It has been shown that a heralded source with high-spectral brightness can be achieved using four-wave mixing (4WM) in a thermal-atomic vapour [1]. These systems are particularly useful the photons are to be interfaced with other atomic systems, e.g. quantum memories [2]. However, the schemes used so far require expensive high-power lasers (∼ 1W) to pump the 4WM process. The aim of this project is to develop a source of heralded single photons with a much higher efficiency, thereby allowing the use of a single diode laser as the pump. We will achieve this by using an alkali-vapour contained in a hollow-core micro-structured fibre and exploit the higher efficiency expected [3]. A challenge of this scheme will be to split the photon pairs. Since the wavelengths of the light emerging from the fibre are close to each other, and the beams are overlapped, many common techniques (such as using interference filters and/or spatial filtering) will not work. However, we have identified a scheme using an atomic vapour as a beam splitter for the photon pairs.

[1] MacRae, A. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 033601 (2012)

[2] Sprague, M. R. Et al., Nature Photon. 8, 287 (2014)

[3] Londero, P. et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 043602 (2009)