Pure-state photon-pair source with a long coherence time for large-scale quantum information processing

Abstract: The Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between independent photons plays a pivotal role in the large-scale quantum networks involving distant nodes. Photons need to work in a pure state for indistinguishability to reach high-quality interference. Also, they need to have a sufficiently long coherence time to reduce the time synchronization requirements in practical application. In this paper, we discuss a scheme for generating a pure-state photon-pair source with a long coherence time in periodically poled potassium titanyl phosphate (PPKTP) crystals. By selecting the appropriate pump laser and filter, we could simultaneously eliminate the frequency correlation of the parametric photons while achieving a long coherence time. We experimentally developed this pure-state photon-pair source of 780 nm on PPKTP crystals pumped by a 390 nm pulsed laser. The source provided a coherence time of tens of picoseconds, and it showed to have the potential to be applied in long-distance quantum interference. Furthermore, we experimentally demonstrated the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interference between two photon sources with visibility exceeding the classical limit.