We describe how hyperentanglement may be used to give orders of magnitude throughput improvement over singly entangled photon pairs, for some applications. Next we demonstrate the first measurement of hyperentangled photon pairs, both of which are at telecom wavelengths, via simultaneous polarization tomography and time-bin interference measurements. Without cryogenic cooling of the nonlinear element, we measure polarization entanglement with tangle of 0.4 ± 0.2 and time bin entanglement with visibility of 83% ± 6%, both exceeding classical thresholds by approximately two standard deviations.
Quantum communications is an emerging field with many promising applications. Its usefulness and range of
applicability in optical fiber will depend strongly on the extent to which quantum channels can be reliably transported
over transparent reconfigurable optical networks, rather than being limited to dedicated point-to-point links. This
presents a number of challenges, particularly when single-photon quantum and much higher power classical optical
signals are combined onto a single physical infrastructure to take advantage of telecom networks built to carry
conventional traffic. In this paper, we report on experimental demonstrations of successful quantum key distribution
(QKD) in this complex environment, and on measurements of physical-layer impairments, including Raman scattering
from classical optical channels, which can limit QKD performance. We then extend the analysis using analytical models
incorporating impairments, to investigate QKD performance while multiplexed with conventional data channels at other
wavelengths. Finally, we discuss the implications of these results for evaluating the most promising domains of use for
QKD in real-world optical networks.
Quantum communications is fast becoming an important component of many applications in quantum information
science. Sharing quantum information over a distance among geographically separated nodes using photonic qubits
requires a reconfigurable transparent networking infrastructure that can support quantum information services. Using
quantum key distribution (QKD) as an example of a quantum communications service, we investigate the ability of fiber
networks to support both conventional optical traffic and single-photon quantum communications signals on a shared
infrastructure. The effect of Raman scattering from conventional channels on the quantum bit error rate (QBER) of a
QKD system is analyzed. Additionally, the potential impact and mitigation strategies of other transmission impairments
such as four-wave mixing, cross-phase modulation, and noise from mid-span optical amplifiers are discussed. We also
review recent trends toward the development of automated and integrated QKD systems which are important steps
toward reliable and manufacturable quantum communications systems.
KEYWORDS: Sensors, Optical fibers, Cryogenics, Single photon detectors, Reflection, Antireflective coatings, Signal attenuation, Signal to noise ratio, Electronics, Reflectivity
Visible light photon counters (VLPCs) and solid-state photomultipliers (SSPMs) are high-efficiency single-photon detectors which have multi-photon counting capability. While both the VLPCs and the SSPMs have inferred internal quantum efficiencies above 93%, the actual measured values for both the detectors were in fact limited to less than 88%, attributed to in-coupling losses. We are currently improving this overall detection efficiency via a) custom anti-reflection coating the detectors and the in-coupling fibers, b) implementing a novel cryogenic design to reduce transmission losses and, c) using low-noise electronics to obtain a better signal-to-noise ratio.
A source of single photons allows secure quantum key distribution, in addition, to being a critical resource for linear optics quantum computing. We describe our progress on deterministically creating single photons from spontaneous parametric downconversion, an extension of the Pittman, Jacobs and Franson scheme [Phys. Rev A, v66, 042303 (2002)]. Their idea was to conditionally prepare single photons by measuring one member of a spontaneously emitted photon pair and storing the remaining conditionally prepared photon until a predetermined time, when it would be "deterministically" released from storage. Our approach attempts to improve upon this by recycling the pump pulse in order to decrease the possibility of multiple-pair generation, while maintaining a high probability of producing a single pair. Many of the challenges we discuss are central to other quantum information technologies, including the need for low-loss optical storage, switching and detection, and fast feed-forward control.
By using a partial polarizer to apply a generalized polarization measurement to one photon of a polarization entangled pair, we remotely prepare single photons in arbitrary polarization qubits. Specifically, we are able to produce a range of states of any desired degree of mixedness or purity, over (and within) the entire Poincare sphere, with a typical fidelity exceeding 99.5%. Moreover, by using non-degenerate entangled pairs as a resource, we can prepare states in multiple wavelengths. Finally, we discuss the states remotely preparable given a particular two-qubit resource state.
Understanding quantum noise is essential for accurately creating desired quantum states and for examining a given state's evolution in any protocol. Using spontaneous parametric downconversion, we can create a wide variety of single- and two-qubit polarization states, including nearly perfect Bell states, mixed states (i.e., "noisy" states) and maximally entangled mixed states (MEMS). To characterize these states we use several different measures, including fidelity, "tangle" and linear entropy. In the course of our experiments, we have discovered and numerically investigated an extreme imbalance in the sensitivity of these different two-qubit state measures. We have also experimentally realized a "Procrustean" filtering technique to remove noise from MEMS. For moderate amounts of filtering, the experimental procedure works as desired to increase the tangle and decrease the linear entropy. However, for large amounts of filtering, the process becomes dominated by perturbations in the starting density matrix. The final outcome is a pure (i.e., zero entropy) product state (i.e., zero entanglement).
A number of optical technologies remain to be developed and
optimized for various applications in quantum information processing,
especially quantum communication. We will give an overview of our
approach to some of these, including periodic heralded single-photon sources based on spontaneous parametric down-conversion, ultrabright sources of tunable entangled photons, near unit efficiency single- and multi-photon detectors based on an atomic vapor interaction, quantum state transducers based on high efficiency frequency up-conversion, and low-loss optical quantum memories.
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