High Fidelity Down-Conversion Source for Secure Communications using On-Demand Single Photons

In this NASA SBIR Phase II effort, AdvR will design and build an efficient, fully integrated, waveguide based, source of spectrally uncorrelated photon pairs that will enable accelerated research and development in the emerging field of quantum information science. The key innovation is the use of sub-micron periodically poled waveguides to produce counter propagating photon pairs using quasi-phase matched downconversion. This novel device will provide a high brightness source of downconversion pairs with enhanced spectral properties, low attenuation, and operation in the visible to the mid-infrared spectral region.

The immediate application of paired photon generation is as a tool for accelerating research and development in quantum communications and computation as well as a source for characterizing and optimization of detectors used for low light level detection. Additionally, the Federal Vision for Quantum Information Science (QIS) published by the National Science and Technology Council states that "QIS promises to have important implications not only for national security but also for future economic competitiveness in areas ranging from wholly new and innovative technologies to improvements in global positioning systems and everyday concerns like healthcare." High purity heralded single photon and entangled photon states will also propel promising research efforts such as linear optical quantum computing, generation of optical Schrodinger cat states, and teleportation-based quantum repeaters for quantum key distribution over unlimited distance.

A waveguide based source of spectrally and spatially pure heralded photons will contribute to a wide range of NASA's advanced technology development efforts including on-demand single photon sources for high rate, spaced-based secure communications e.g. quantum key distribution, quantum metrology for precision space based navigation, quantum computation, and space-based entanglement distribution that can contribute to fundamental tests of quantum mechanical principals over large distances and probe the relationship between quantum and gravitational theories. In addition heralded single photon sources will be useful for the characterization, optimization, and calibration of detectors designed for photon starved operation and used in laser-based long distance communications.

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