An experimental setup to generate narrowband bi-photons via four-wave mixing in cold atoms

Abstract We present our recently-built experimental setup designed to generate near-infrared and narrow-band correlated photon pairs by inducing four-wave mixing in a cold gas of 87Rb atoms confined in a magneto-optical trap. The experimental setup and its automation and control approach are described in detail. A characterization of the optical density of the atomic ensemble as well as the basic statistical measurements of the generated light are reported. The non-classical nature of the photon pairs is confirmed by observing a violation of Cauchy-Schwarz inequality by a factor of 5.6 × 10-5 in a Hanbury Brown - Twiss interferometer. A 1/e coherence time for the heralded, idler photons of 44 ± 0.1 ns is estimated from our observations. We are able to achieve a value of 104 s-1 pair-detection-rate, which results in a spectral brightness of 280 (MHz s)-1. The combination of high brightness and narrow-band spectrum makes this photon-pair source a viable tool in fundamental studies of quantum states and opens the door to use them in quantum technologies.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Arias-Téllez,N., Ángeles-Aguillón,I. F., Martínez-Cara,D., Martínez-Vallejo,A., Villegas-Aguilar,L. Y., Mendoza-López,L. A., Torres,Y. M., Gutiérrez-Arenas,R. A., Jáuregui,R., Sahagún Sánchez,D., Pérez Castillo,I., Ceré,A.
Format:	Digital revista
Language:	English
Published:	Sociedad Mexicana de Física 2022
Online Access:	http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0035-001X2022000300017
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