1007.4798 (Xiao-song Ma et al.)

Experimental generation of single photons via active multiplexing    [PDF]

Xiao-song Ma, Stefan Zotter, Johannes Kofler, Thomas Jennewein, Anton Zeilinger

An on-demand single-photon source is a fundamental building block in quantum
science and technology. We experimentally demonstrate the proof of concept for
a scheme to generate on-demand single photons via actively multiplexing several
heralded photons probabilistically produced from pulsed spontaneous parametric
down-conversions (SPDCs). By utilizing a four-photon-pair source, an active
feed-forward technique, and an ultrafast single-photon router, we show a
fourfold enhancement of the output photon rate. Simultaneously, we maintain the
quality of the output single-photon states, confirmed by correlation
measurements. We also experimentally verify, via Hong-Ou-Mandel interference,
that the router does not affect the indistinguishability of the single photons.
Furthermore, we give numerical simulations, which indicate that photons based
on multiplexing of four SPDC sources can outperform the heralding based on
highly advanced photon-number-resolving detectors. Our results show a route for
on-demand single-photon generation and the practical realization of scalable
linear optical quantum information processing.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1007.4798