Improved heralded single-photon source with a photon-number-resolving superconducting nanowire detector

Abstract

Deterministic generation of single photons is essential for many quantum information technologies. A bulk optical nonlinearity emitting a photon pair, where the measurement of one of the photons heralds the presence of the other, is commonly used with the caveat that the single-photon emission rate is constrained due to a trade-off between multiphoton events and pair emission rate. Using an efficient and low noise photon-number-resolving superconducting nanowire detector we herald, in real time, a single photon at telecommunication wavelength. We perform a second-order photon correlation $g^2(0)$ measurement of the signal mode conditioned on the measured photon number of the idler mode for various pump powers and demonstrate an improvement of a heralded single-photon source. We develop an analytical model using a phase-space formalism that encompasses all multiphoton effects and relevant imperfections, such as loss and multiple Schmidt modes. We perform a maximum-likelihood fit to test the agreement of the model to the data and extract the best-fit mean photon number $\mu$ of the pair source for each pump power. A maximum reduction of $0.118\pm 0.012$ in the photon $g^2(0)$ correlation function at $\mu =0.327\pm 0.007$ is obtained, indicating a strong suppression of multiphoton emissions. For a fixed $g^2(0)=7e-3$, we increase the single pair generation probability by 25%. Our experiment, built using fiber-coupled and off-the-shelf components, delineates a path to engineering ideal sources of single photons.

arXiv commentModel and analysis integrated into main text. Corrected equations. 17 pages, 11 figures

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