An all-fiber source of pulsed twin beams for quantum communication

Motivated by the pursuit of a simple system to produce a continuous variable non-classical light source for long-distance quantum communication, we construct an all-fiber source of pulsed twin beams in the 1550 nm band by using a high gain fiber optical parametric amplifier. The intensity-difference noise of the twin beams is below the shot noise limit by 3.1 dB (10.4 dB after correction for losses). A detailed study reveals a number of limiting factors for noise reduction. Therefore, further noise reduction will be feasible once care is taken for these limiting factors.