Pure single photons from a trapped atom source

Abstract

Single atoms or atom-like emitters are the purest source of on-demand single photons, they are intrinsically incapable of multi-photon emission. To demonstrate this degree of purity we have realized a tunable, on-demand source of single photons using a single ion trapped at the common focus of high numerical aperture lenses. Our trapped-ion source produces single-photon pulses at a rate of 200 kHz with g${}^2(0)=(1.9\pm 0.2)\times 10^{-3}$, without any background subtraction. The corresponding residual background is accounted for exclusively by detector dark counts. We further characterize the performance of our source by measuring the violation of a non-Gaussian state witness and show that its output corresponds to ideal attenuated single photons. Combined with current efforts to enhance collection efficiency from single emitters, our results suggest that single trapped ions are not only ideal stationary qubits for quantum information processing, but promising sources of light for scalable optical quantum networks.

7 pages plus one page supplementary material

References in corpus (11)

• Near optimal single photon sources in the solid state
• On-Demand Single Photons with High Extraction Efficiency and Near-Unity Indistinguishability from a Resonantly Driven Quantum Dot in a Micropillar
• Quantum Teleportation Between Distant Matter Qubits
• Quantum Beat of Two Single Photons
• Manipulation of the Spontaneous Emission Dynamics of Quantum Dots in 2D Photonic Crystals
• Scalable performance in solid-state single-photon sources
• Imaging trapped ions with a microfabricated lens for quantum information processing
• Fast Excitation and Photon Emission of a Single-Atom-Cavity System
• Quantum interference from remotely trapped ions
• High resolution adaptive imaging of a single atom
• Quantum interference in the absorption and emission of single photons by a single ion

Cited by in corpus (38)

• Microwave photonics with superconducting quantum circuits
• Photonic quantum information processing: a review
• On-demand generation of background--free single photons from a solid-state source
• Quantum-dot-like states in molybdenum disulfide nanostructures due to the interplay of local surface wrinkling, strain, and dielectric confinement
• A fiber coupled cavity QED source of identical single photons
• Bright multiplexed source of indistinguishable single photons with tunable GHz-bandwidth at room temperature
• Tailoring the Emission Wavelength of Color Centers in Hexagonal Boron Nitride for Quantum Applications
• Quantum non-Gaussianity of light and atoms
• Cavity-induced back-action in Purcell-enhanced photoemission of a single ion in an ultraviolet fiber-cavity
• High Purity Single Photons Entangled with an Atomic Memory
• Quantum non-Gaussianity of multi-phonon states of a single atom
• Neutral atom wavelength compatible 780 nm single photons from a trapped ion via quantum frequency conversion
• Information processing at the speed of light
• Nonclassical light from large ensemble of trapped ions
• Strain-free GaSb quantum dots as single-photon sources in the telecom S-band
• Nonclassical photon pairs from warm atomic vapor using a single driving laser
• Efficient excitation of dye molecules for single photon generation
• Multipath interference from large trapped ion chains
• Quantum non-Gaussianity from a large ensemble of single photon emitters
• Quantum Networks for Single Photon Detection
• Quantum fingerprinting using two-photon interference
• Quantum non-Gaussian Photon Coincidences
• Taming numerical errors in simulations of continuous variable non-Gaussian state preparation
• Rate-fidelity trade-off in cavity-based remote entanglement generation
• Quantum non-Gaussianity criteria based on vacuum probabilities of original and attenuated state
• Towards a standard procedure for the measurement of the multi-photon component in a CW telecom heralded single-photon source
• The optical properties of dibenzoterrylene
• Xenon plasma-focused ion beam milling as a method to deterministically fabricate bright and high-purity single-photon sources operating at C-band
• Scalable multiphoton generation from cavity-synchronized single-photon sources
• Direct detection of quantum non-Gaussian light from a dispersively coupled single atom
• Preparing pure ${}^{43}$Ca${}^{+}$ samples in an ion trap with photoionization and parametric excitations
• How to describe collective decay of uncoupled modes in the input-output formalism
• Quantum non-Gaussian high Fock states of light pulses and their superpositions
• Quantum-dot single photon source performance with off-resonant pulse preparation schemes
• Position measurement of a dipolar scatterer via self-homodyne detection
• Mechanisms and Opportunities for Tunable High-Purity Single Photon Emitters: A Review of Hybrid Perovskites and Prospects for Bright Squeezed Vacuum
• Benchmarking Dual-Polarization Silicon Nitride Photonic Integrated Circuits for Trapped-Ion Quantum Technologies
• Photonic quantum information with time-bins: Principles and applications