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arXiv · 1307.4498

Multi-photon absorption limits to heralded single photon sources

Chad A. Husko·Alex S. Clark·Matthew J. Collins·Alfredo De Rossi·Sylvain Combrie·Gaelle Lehoucq·Isabella H. Rey·Thomas F. Krauss·Chunle Xiong·Benjamin J. Eggleton
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Abstract

Single photons are of paramount importance to future quantum technologies, including quantum communication and computation. Nonlinear photonic devices using parametric processes offer a straightforward route to generating photons, however additional nonlinear processes may come into play and interfere with these sources. Here we analyse these sources in the presence of multi-photon processes for the first time. We conduct experiments in silicon and gallium indium phosphide photonic crystal waveguides which display inherently different nonlinear absorption processes, namely two-photon (TPA) and three-photon absorption (ThPA), respectively. We develop a novel model capturing these diverse effects which is in excellent quantitative agreement with measurements of brightness, coincidence-to-accidental ratio (CAR) and second-order correlation function g(2)(0), showing that TPA imposes an intrinsic limit on heralded single photon sources. We devise a new figure of merit, the quantum utility (QMU), enabling direct comparison and optimisation of single photon sources.

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Chad A. Husko, Alex S. Clark, Matthew J. Collins, Alfredo De Rossi, Sylvain Combrie, Gaelle Lehoucq, Isabella H. Rey, Thomas F. Krauss, Chunle Xiong, Benjamin J. Eggleton. 2013-07-17. Multi-photon absorption limits to heralded single photon sources. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep03087

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