Polarization-independent single-photon switch based on a fiber-optical Sagnac interferometer for quantum communication networks

Abstract

An essential component of future quantum networks is an optical switch capable of dynamically routing single-photons. Here we implement such a switch, based on a fiber-optical Sagnac interferometer design. The routing is implemented with a pair of fast electro-optical telecom phase modulators placed inside the Sagnac loop, such that each modulator acts on an orthogonal polarization component of the single-photons, in order to yield polarization-independent capability that is crucial for several applications. We obtain an average extinction ratio of more than 19 dB between both outputs of the switch. Our experiment is built exclusively with commercial off-the-shelf components, thus allowing direct compatibility with current optical communication systems.

arXiv comment6 pages, 3 figures

References in corpus (20)

• Quantum Communication
• Secure quantum key distribution with realistic devices
• Secure Quantum Key Distribution
• Secure quantum key distribution over 421 km of optical fiber
• All-Optical Routing of Single Photons by a One-Atom Switch Controlled by a Single Photon
• Distribution of time-bin qubits over 50 km of optical fiber
• Loopholes in Bell Inequality Tests of Local Realism
• A single-photon switch and transistor enabled by a solid-state quantum memory
• Full polarization control for fiber optical quantum communication systems using polarization encoding
• Ultrafast switching of photonic entanglement
• Two-photon Franson-type experiments and local realism
• Postselection-loophole-free Bell violation with genuine time-bin entanglement
• Long-distance distribution of genuine energy-time entanglement
• Device-Independent Certification of a Nonprojective Qubit Measurement
• Experimental Bell inequality violation without the postselection loophole
• Experimental nonlocality-based randomness generation with non-projective measurements
• Postselection-Loophole-Free Bell Test Over an Installed Optical Fiber Network
• A high-speed tunable beam splitter for feed-forward photonic quantum information processing
• Quantum key distribution with untrusted detectors
• Fully tunable and switchable coupler for photonic routing in quantum detection and modulation

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Experimental storage of photonic polarization entanglement in a broadband loop-based quantum memory
• A tunable quantum random number generator based on a fiber-optical Sagnac interferometer
• Broadband Quantum Memory in Atomic Ensembles
• Low-Loss Polarization-Maintaining Optical Router for Photonic Quantum Information Processing
• Low-loss polarization-maintaining router for single and entangled photons at a telecom wavelength