2024/05/10 by Sungeun Oh, Oh, Sungeun, Thomas Jennewein +1
Computer Science · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Orbital Angular Momentum in Optics #Photonic and Optical Devices #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2405.06752
openalex publication_date 2024/05/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We demonstrate polarization entanglement in highly non-degenerate photon pairs, generated through Type-0 spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) using bulk periodically poled Lithium Niobate (PPLN) crystals. Through the utilization of both a beam displacer interferometer scheme and a Sagnac interferometer, we ensure high polarisation contrast and stable interference of the highly non-degenerate photon pairs, which however causes substantial spatial and temporal walk-offs of the photon paths which poses a formidable challenge. We introduce an effective compensation method using birefringent crystal wedges to eliminate spatial and temporal walkoffs simultaneously. This method is implemented in our entangled photon source (EPS) designed specifically for testing entanglement-based quantum key distribution (EBQKD) between ground and satellite, as part of the Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) mission funded by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). We observed a coincidence rate of N = (33.33+-0.05)kHz, a significant improvement compared to the absence of the spatial compensation. We also observed an estimated pair generation rate of (2.92+-0.12)MHz and an entanglement visibility of (96.6+-0.3)% from only 1.0mW of pump power, making it a promising source for long-distance quantum communication for ground-to-satellite and fiber optic links.