Spectral compression of single-photon-level laser pulse

Abstract: We experimentally demonstrate that the bandwidth of single photons laser pulse is compressed by a factor of 58 in a periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguide chip. A chirped single photons laser pulse and an oppositely chirped classical laser pulse are employed to produce a narrowband single photon pulse with new frequency through sum-frequency generation. In our experiment, the frequency and bandwidth of single photons at 1550 nm are simultaneously converted. Our results mark a critical step towards the realization of coherent photonic interface between quantum communication at 1550 nm and quantum memory in the near-visible window.