High-brightness fiber-based Sagnac source of entangled photon pairs for multiplexed quantum networks

A fully fibered source of entangled photon pairs based on a nonlinear Sagnac interferometer is reported. Operating at telecom wavelengths, the source relies exclusively on standard fiber-optic components and periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides, resulting in a compact, robust, and field-deployable architecture. The generation stage supports both polarization and energy-time entanglement without modification, enabling versatile operation depending on the targeted application. Broadband spontaneous parametric down-conversion allows dense wavelength-division multiplexing over the telecom C and L bands. A lumped device brightness of about 104 pairs s−1 nm−1 mW−2 is reported over several standard 100-GHz ITU channel pairs, together with high entanglement quality. Polarization and energy-time encodings are characterized through state tomography and two-photon interference measurements, yielding fidelities, purities, and visibilities exceeding 96% over multiple wavelength channels. The stability and reproducibility of the source are further evaluated through long-duration operation in a network environment. These results demonstrate that the proposed Sagnac source constitutes a practical and scalable building block for future plug-and-play quantum communication and quantum networking platforms.