High nonclassical correlations of large-bandwidth photon pairs generated in warm atomic vapor

Generation of nonclassical light suitable for interaction with atoms corresponds to a crucial goal pursued across the broad quantum optics community. We present the generation of nonclassical photon pairs using the process of spontaneous four-wave mixing in warm atomic vapor with an unprecedentedly...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2021-03
Main Authors: Mika, Jaromír, Slodička, Lukáš
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bandwidths
Correlation
Energy levels
Excitation
Four-wave mixing
Laser beams
Light sources
Optical pumping
Photons
Quantum optics
Vapors
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Summary:Generation of nonclassical light suitable for interaction with atoms corresponds to a crucial goal pursued across the broad quantum optics community. We present the generation of nonclassical photon pairs using the process of spontaneous four-wave mixing in warm atomic vapor with an unprecedentedly high degree of nonclassical photon correlations. We show how the unique combination of excitation of atoms in the proximity of the vapor cell viewport, single excitation laser beam, double-\(\Lambda\) energy level scheme, auxiliary optical pumping, and particular optical filtering setups, allow for the spectral bandwidth of generated nonclassical light fields of up to \(560 \pm 20\) MHz and low two-photon noise. We provide a quantitative analysis of particular noise mechanisms which set technological and fundamental limits on the observable photon correlations. The overall technological simplicity of the presented scheme together with the availability of spectrally matched quantum memories implementable with warm atomic vapors promises the feasibility of realization of GHz bandwidth on-demand nonclassical light sources and efficient quantum communication nodes.
ISSN:2331-8422
DOI:10.48550/arxiv.2103.09525